Wthin 

Qate^softhe 
Far  East 


CharlesR.Erdman 


LIBRARY  OF  PI 


/W -4  2006 


THEOLOGICAL: 


DS  508  .E7  c.2 

Erdman,  Charles  Rosenbury, 

1866-1960. 
Within  the  gateways  of  the 
Far  East 


Within  the  Gateways 
of  the  Far  East 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/withingatewaysofOOerdm 


THE  FAMOUS  TORII,  OR  GATEWAY,  AT  MIYAJIMA 
"We  saw  its  shrines  float  on  the  surface  of  the  flood  tide." 


Within  the  Gateways 
Of  the  Far  East 

A  Record  of  Recent  Travel 


By 
CHARLES   R.  ERDMAN 

Professor  of  Practical  Theology 
Princeton   Theological  Seminary 

Author  of  "The  Gospel  of  John,  an  Exposition,"  "The 

Gospel  of  Matthew,"  "  The  Gospel  of  Mark,"  "  The 

General  Epistles,"   "The   Acts,"   "The  Gospel 

of  Luke,"    "Coming  to  the  Communion," 

"The  Return  of  Christ,"  etc. 


-»!W 


ILLUSTRATED 


L 

;;;'CETON 

APR  -4  2006 

M<Y 

New    York  Chicago 

Fleming     H.      Revell     Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh :      75    Princes    Street 


To 

MY  WIFE 

who 

encourages  me 

in 

every  worthy  effort 

and  even 

forgives  me 

for  writing  books 


Foreword 

MY  next  thrilling  narrative  will  prob- 
ably be  dedicated  to  that  rapidly 
diminishing  number  of  persons  who 
have  distinguished  themselves  by  never  visiting 
the  Orient.  These  pages  were  prepared  more 
particularly  for  the  perusal  of  personal  friends 
and  they  may  be  regarded  as  an  apology  for 
an  extended  absence  from  home.  They  do  not 
form  an  absolutely  complete  compendium  of 
routes,  distances,  areas,  populations,  rainfalls, 
products,  languages,  customs,  vital  statistics  of 
Lama  priests,  and  similar  informing  items 
which  fill  more  important  and  conventional 
books  of  travel.  The  omission  of  any  such 
details  is  due  to  the  cruel  limitations  of  space 
imposed  by  the  high  cost  of  printing. 
Compensation  is  offered  in  the  original  and 
profound  observations  made  by  the  author, 
whose  ignorance  of  geography,  history,  science, 
and  religion  enables  him  to  write  with  such 
abandon  and  assurance  as  characterize  all  who 
have  spent  a  few  days  in  the  Far  East.  The 
value  of  the  volume  will  ever  remain  a  matter 
of  personal  opinion,  to  which  those  who 
7 


8  FOEEWORD 

read  it  through  will  be  fully  entitled.  The 
reading  must  be  prompt,  because  the  Orient  is 
changing  so  rapidly  that  the  statements  of  the 
author  soon  may  be  out  of  date.  To  this  same 
cause  must  be  attributed  any  apparent  inaccu- 
racies the  book  may  contain. 

C.  R.  E. 
Princeton,  N.  J, 


Contents 


I.  "Westward  Ho" 

II.  China. 

III.  Korea 

IV.  Japan  . 

V.  Homeward  Bound 


13 
32 
62 
92 
108 


Illustrations 

FACING  PAGE 

The  Famous  Torii  of  Miyajima         .         .         .    Title 

The  Daibutsu 26 

The  Great  Wall 32 

The  Cheng- Yang- Men  Gate,  Peking         .        .       56 

A  Korean  Peasant 70 

Pyeng-Yang  City  Wall 86 

The  Yomei-Mon  at  Nikko        ....       94 
Fujiyama        .         .         .         .         .         .         .108 


XI 


"WESTWARD  HO" 

TO  reach  the  Far  East  you  may  sail 
due  west,  and  you  surely  will  choose 
that  course  if  you  are  starting  from 
California  for  the  coast  of  Cathay. 

From  San  Francisco  to  Honolulu  is  a  voy- 
age of  five  days  and  fifty-five  nights,  at  least 
so  it  seems  to  my  friend  who  loves  to  lounge 
on  deck  but  loathes  being  shut  down  below  in 
a  hot  little  box  without  light  or  air,  or  room  to 
move.  However,  my  friend  has  never  been  at 
sea,  and  he  cannot  imagine  what  it  is  to  occupy 
a  cabin  flooded  with  sunshine  and  swept  by 
breezes,  cooled  and  heated  and  lighted  by  elec- 
tric devices,  provided  with  beds  and  with  ward- 
robes and  couches,  with  hot  and  cold  water, 
with  adjoining  baths  and  all  the  appointments 
of  more  stationary  hotels. 

Then  too  his  imagination  is  clouded  by  an 
unfortunate  knowledge  of  history,  and  he  re- 
members that  Thurston  and  Bingham  and  their 
wives  and  companions,  the  first  missionaries  to 
Hawaii,  spent  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  on 
13 


14      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

their  toy  ship  Tkaddeus  en  route  from  Boston, 
that  Mrs.  Bingham  in  her  journal  uncomplain- 
ingly compared  her  stateroom  to  the  "  Black 
Hole  of  Calcutta,"  that  in  those  days  the  menu 
consisted  of  hardtack,  pickles  and  pork,  that 
ships  were  usually  boarded  by  pirates,  wrecked 
by  typhoons  and  their  companies  devoured  by 
cannibals. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  modern  Pacific  voyage 
is  attended  by  not  the  slightest  discomfort  aside 
from  paying  for  the  ticket ;  and  the  trip  is  sur- 
prisingly short.  One  scarcely  has  thrown  his 
cabin  into  disorder  with  trunks  and  bags,  has 
sorted  out  his  steamer  letters  and  telegrams, 
has  advised  the  captain  as  to  his  duties,  has 
taken  a  few  turns  on  deck,  and  an  occasional 
sleep  in  his  room,  has  grown  accustomed  to  the 
roll  of  the  ship  and  to  the  snoring  of  his  cabin- 
mate,  in  fact  has  just  accommodated  himself 
to  his  surroundings,  when  suddenly  he  has 
pointed  out  to  him,  on  a  bright  morning,  the 
bold  headlands  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  "  the 
Paradise  of  the  Pacific." 

These  islands  were  known  to  the  Spaniards 
and  visited  by  Juan  Gaetano  in  1555 ;  but  they 
were  "  discovered  "  by  Captain  Cook  in  1778, 
and  by  him  "  placed  upon  the  map,"  and 
named  the  "  Sandwich  Islands  "  in  honour  of 
the  Lord  of  the  British  Admiralty.     For  these 


"  WESTWAED  HO  »  15 

and  other  indiscretions,  the  famous,  or  notori- 
ous, captain  was  killed  by  the  natives  who  for 
a  time  had  worshipped  him  as  a  god ;  they  re- 
moved his  flesh  from  his  bones,  decked  the 
skeleton  in  red  feathers  and  then  paid  it  the 
same  divine  honours  as  when  it  had  been  more 
decently  clothed.  A  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  rash  captain  has  been  reared  by  his  ad- 
miring countrymen,  where  he  is  supposed  to 
have  fallen,  on  Hawaii,  the  southernmost  of 
the  islands,  which  island  has  given  to  the  group 
their  present  name. 

These  Islands  of  the  Blest,  some  eight  in 
number,  stretch  from  southeast  to  northwest 
over  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred  miles,  in 
the  northern  tropics,  and  some  two  thousand 
miles  west  of  the  Calif ornian  coast.  The  third 
in  size,  but  the  most  important,  is  Oahu,  on 
which  the  city  of  Honolulu  is  situated,  and  it  is 
this  island  which  appears  first,  raising  its  grey- 
green  mountain  summits  out  of  the  emerald 
sea. 

However,  to  the  south,  some  fifty  miles  in 
the  distance,  one  traces  the  faint  outlines  of 
Molokai,  "  the  leper  island  " ;  but  these  out- 
lines are  less  vague  and  indistinct  than  the 
myths  which  are  usually  associated,  in  popular 
fancy,  with  the  false  phrase  "  leper  island  " 
and  the  famous  name  of  Father  Damien. 

It  is  true  that  at  Kalaupapa  the  government 


16      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

has  long  been  conducting  a  colony  for  lepers, 
but  only  a  fraction  of  the  island  is  devoted  to 
this  purpose. 

It  is  also  true  that  here  Father  Damien  un- 
selfishly performed  the  rites  of  his  church  and 
ministered  to  the  "  faithful,"  that  he  con- 
tracted the  loathsome  disease  of  leprosy  and 
died  worthy  of  all  the  praise  bestowed  upon 
him,  even  by  Stevenson ;  but  in  doing  him  full 
justice  it  is  not  necessary  to  forget  the  Protes- 
tant workers  who  laboured  at  his  side,  but 
whose  lives  were  preserved  by  more  careful 
personal  habits  and  by  a  wiser  observance  of 
sanitary  laws.  Most  of  all  is  it  right  to  re- 
member the  modern  heroes  who  are  labouring 
to-day  so  devotedly  for  the  relief  of  the  pitiful 
sufferers  on  Molokai,  and  the  scientists  in  other 
places,  who  by  their  discoveries  and  their  in- 
vestigations even  hold  out  hopes  of  effecting 
permanent  cures,  even  of  stamping  out  leprosy 
from  the  earth. 

It  is,  however,  the  island  of  Oahu  which  we 
are  approaching.  We  round  the  great  prom- 
ontory of  Koka  Head,  follow  with  the  eye  the 
white  line  of  foaming  surf,  pass  Diamond 
Head  and  the  famous  Waikiki  Beach  and  are 
soon  alongside  the  great  wharf  in  the  harbour 
of  Honolulu. 

A  resident  of  New  York  cruelly  remarked 


"WESTWAKD  HO"  17 

that  he  spent  a  week  one  afternoon  in  Philadel- 
phia. For  quite  contrary  reasons,  a  day  and 
a  night  passed  in  Honolulu  are  so  crowded 
with  incidents  and  impressions  and  delights 
that  they  linger  in  memory  quite  disassociated 
from  any  particular  measurements  of  time. 

In  order  that  the  stay  may  be  most  enjoyable 
one  should  provide  in  advance  to  be  met  at  the 
wharf  by  relatives,  particularly  by  a  cousin, 
who  bears  the  name  of  "  the  beloved  disciple." 
First  of  all  you  will  pay  a  visit  of  respect  to 
the  Palace,  the  last  royal  occupant  of  which 
was  Queen  Liliuokalani,  whose  lovely  song 
"Aloha  Oe  "  bids  fair  to  make  her  fame  out- 
live that  of  the  reckless  Captain  Cook,  or  of 
the  intrepid  warrior  Kamehameha  I.  It  was 
by  the  leadership  of  the  latter  that  the  islands 
were  brought  under  the  sway  of  a  single  ruler, 
more  than  a  century  ago ;  and  just  across  from 
the  royal  palace  you  may  see  standing  his  im- 
posing gold-wrought  statue. 

The  "  Mission  Memorial,"  with  its  offices 
and  commodious  auditorium,  was  erected  by 
the  worthy  descendants  of  the  Christian  heroes 
to  whose  lives  and  services  the  present  civiliza- 
tion and  prosperity  of  the  islands  are  traced, 
and  it  forms  the  radiating  centre  from  which 
are  going  forth  similar  transforming  influences 
into  all  parts  of  the  islands  to-day. 

A  drive  up  a  steep  narrowing  valley  brings 


18      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAK  EAST 

one  suddenly  to  the  Pali,  the  brink  of  a  preci- 
pice, from  which  one  looks  down  a  sheer  thou- 
sand feet  upon  a  panorama  whose  loveliness  is 
probably  unsurpassed.  From  the  foot  of  the 
cliff  the  verdant  fields  stretch  away  to  the  white 
surf  and  the  many-shaded  expanse  of  the  green 
sea,  while  the  picture  is  framed  in  the  rugged 
steeps  of  the  mountains  and  the  bending  blue 
of  the  sky.  It  is  indeed  a  scene  of  loveliness; 
but  an  inscription  on  the  rock,  behind  the  visi- 
tor, reminds  him  that  it  was  once  a  scene  of 
horrid  tragedy,  for  here  the  defenders  of  the 
island  took  their  last  stand,  and  from  this  rock 
the  king  and  the  remnant  of  his  army  were 
hurled  headlong,  as  Kamehameha  the  Great 
completed  his  conquest  of  the  islands. 

Then  you  visit  Waikiki,  with  its  white 
sands,  its  curling  waves,  its  surf-boards,  its 
canoes  and  its  joyous  bathers.  After  a  glimpse 
at  the  aquarium,  at  the  polo  field  and  the  coun- 
try club,  you  make  a  round  of  the  schools  and 
educational  institutions  which  are  the  glory  of 
the  islands,  and  you  realize  on  what  broad 
lines  the  early  missionaries  built,  and  how 
wisely  their  descendants  are  following  their 
policies  to-day. 

Seven  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pil- 
grims from  the  Thaddeus,  a  boarding-school 
for  boys  was  established;  and,  ever  since, 
Christian  education  has  been  a  chief  concern  of 


"  WESTWARD  HO  »  19 

those  who  have  led  in  the  life  and  development 
of  the  Islands.  Among  other  results  may  be 
mentioned  Maunaolu  Seminary,  Kohala  Girls' 
School,  Mid-Pacific  Institute,  the  Christian 
Worker's  Institute,  the  Theological  Seminary, 
and  the  admirable  system  of  Sunday  Schools 
established  in  the  centres  of  population  on  each 
of  the  Islands. 

Of  all  the  myths  connected  with  these  ro- 
mantic scenes,  none  is  more  familiar  than  the 
one  which  suggests  that  the  missionaries  "  ex- 
ploited the  natives "  and  that  their  children 
"  have  grown  rich  "  because  of  the  land  they 
inherited.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the 
facts.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  great  prin- 
ciples taught  by  those  early  pioneers,  and  the 
institutions  they  founded,  did  establish  on  the 
Islands  a  Christian  civilization,  and  that  the 
descendants  of  the  missionaries  have  been  the 
leaders  in  every  community,  because  of  their 
ability,  their  worth,  and  their  strength  of  char- 
acter. 

The  need  of  real  "  missionary  effort,"  how- 
ever, has  not  passed;  in  fact  a  new  situation 
has  arisen  which  offers  a  serious  challenge  to 
the  Church.  This  was  impressed  on  the  mind 
by  a  visit  to  the  Buddhist  temple.  Here  one 
seemed  to  be  in  a  Protestant  church.  There 
were  the  pews,  the  pulpit,  the  pipe  organ,  but 
there,  most  conspicuous  of  all,  the  great  golden 


20      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

shrine  with  its  Buddha.     Here  are  being  sung 
such  adaptations  of  Christian  hymns  as  these: 

"  O,  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing 
My  Holy  Buddha's  praise."     .     .     . 

"  Joy  to  the  World !    The  Buddha's  come, 
Let  Earth  receive  the  truth."     .     .     . 

"  Peace,  perfect  peace,  in  this  dark  world  of 
sin, 
The     law     of     Buddha     teaches     peace 
within."     .     .     . 

Yet  this  suggests  no  approach  to  Chris- 
tianity, nor  sympathy  for  its  teachings,  for 
in  this  temple  Christianity  is  being  most  bit- 
terly assailed.  Now,  on  these  islands,  nearly 
every  second  person,  actually  over  one  hun- 
dred thousand  of  the  population,  are  Japanese; 
and  for  them  Buddhism  has  become  a  rallying 
centre.  Can  these  thousands  be  brought  to  ac- 
cept the  Gospel  of  Christ  ? 

After  a  night  of  perfect  rest  at  a  country 
home  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  island, 
guarded  by  sentinels  of  royal  palms,  breathing 
the  fragrance  of  flowers  and  lulled  to  sleep  by 
the  murmur  of  the  surf,  we  drove  to  the  city, 
in  the  early  morning,  through  great  plantations 
of  sugar-cane,  of  bananas  and  of  pineapples. 
The  cost  of  missionary  operations  on  these 


"  WESTWAED  HO  "  21 

islands,  during  the  full  century,  is  estimated  at 
one  and  a  half  million  dollars.  The  annual 
exports  now  amount  to  more  than  one  hundred 
million.  Some  eighty  million  is  in  sugar,  but 
an  increasing  amount  of  the  remainder  is  in 
pineapples,  more  than  six  million  cases  of 
which  are  shipped  in  a  single  year. 

The  great  naval  station  at  Pearl  Harbor, 
and  the  thousands  of  soldiers  at  the  Schofield 
Barracks  remind  the  traveller  of  the  strong 
fortification  of  this  far-American  outpost,  and 
also  of  the  fact  that  while  he  is  five  thousand 
miles  from  home,  he  is  still  in  his  native  land 
and  under  the  United  States  flag. 

This  was  further  impressed  as  one  em- 
barked to  continue  his  voyage,  for,  as  the 
vessel  moved  from  its  moorings,  the  Hawaiian 
National  Hymn  and  "  Aloha  Oe  "  were  pre- 
ceded by  the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner."  Then 
the  serpentine  streamers  of  paper  began  to 
break,  the  flower-bedecked  and  garlanded  pas- 
sengers waved  farewells  to  their  friends  on  the 
shore,  and  the  islands  of  romance,  of  beauty, 
of  sentiment  and  of  song,  began  to  fade  in  the 
distance.  Yet  as  those  scenes  were  beginning 
to  grow  dim,  the  marvel  of  one  great  romance 
became  only  more  vivid,  the  romance  of  those 
messengers  of  Christ,  who,  summoned  by  the 
appeal  of  a  Hawaiian  boy,  sailed  from  their 
homeland  in  1819  on  that  little  brig  Thaddcus. 


22      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

In  that  very  year,  and  in  the  same  month,  a 
providential  preparation  was  being  made  for 
their  coming.  The  islanders,  ignorant  of  the 
approaching  messengers,  weary  of  their  idol- 
atry and  of  the  irksome  requirements  of  their 
cruel  taboos,  destroyed  their  idols,  burned  their 
temples  and  abolished  their  priesthood.  The 
messengers  of  the  Cross  found  a  people  without 
a  religion,  but  without  spiritual  truths  or  moral 
restraints.  No  wonder  that  their  messages 
were  received  and  that  in  1837-1838,  under  the 
leadership  of  Titus  Coan  and  Lorenzo  Lyons 
and  their  companions,  nearly  twenty  thousand 
new  members  were  added  to  the  church.  Do 
not  such  facts  outline  the  real  romance  of  these 
Islands?  Such  at  least  were  the  thoughts 
which  filled  the  mind  as  the  jagged  outlines  of 
the  volcanic  mountains  sank  beneath  the  hori- 
zon of  the  sapphire  sea. 

By  the  time  one  was  under  way  from  Hono- 
lulu to  Yokohama,  he  had  become  fairly  well 
acquainted  with  his  fellow-passengers  and  had 
found  them  to  form  a  more  varied  and  less 
conventional  company  than  usually  sail  on  an 
Atlantic  liner.  It  was  also  remarked  that  the 
average  intelligence  of  Pacific  voyagers  is 
rapidly  rising,  as  was  evident  from  the  fewer 
number  of  inane  criticisms  passed  upon  mis- 
sionaries and  the  smaller  amount  of  liquor 


"WESTWAKD  HO"  23 

consumed  than  might  have  been  expected  from 
popular  reports. 

There  was  marked  informality  and  good 
fellowship.  The  hours  were  passed  in  such 
social  amusements  as  are  usual  in  places  where 
the  surroundings  are  delightful  and  time  is  not 
at  a  premium. 

On  the  first  evening  the  most  interesting 
pastime  consisted  in  searching  for  the 
Southern  Cross.  Those  who  depend  for  their 
information  upon  poets  and  the  authors  of 
guide-books,  have  little  conception  of  the  diffi- 
culty inexperienced  travellers  have  in  discov- 
ering this  elusive  constellation.  For  two 
nights  the  search  was  continued ;  every  author- 
ity on  board  was  consulted  from  the  captain 
to  the  cabin-boy.  Three  different  "  crosses  " 
were  definitely  pointed  out,  and  when  there 
remained  little  doubt  that  we  were  gazing  on 
"  the  Cross  "  it  proved  to  be  a  kite,  for  the 
poor  little  quadrangle  of  stars  has  no  connec- 
tion between  its  four  twinkling  points,  and  it 
may  have  been  more  than  local  and  provincial 
prejudice  which  declared  that  there  is  far 
greater  impressiveness  in  the  majestic  "  Cross  " 
which  glorifies  the  northern  sky. 

The  days  passed  so  rapidly  that  apparently 
it  was  not  thought  worth  while  to  count  them 
all ;  for  we  retired  on  Monday  night  at  eleven, 
slept  eight  hours,  and  awoke  on  Wednesday 


24      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAK  EAST 

morning.  The  captain  explained  that  we  had 
"  crossed  the  meridian  "  and  so  "  lost  a  day." 
Another  explanation  was  that  the  captain  in- 
tentionally dropped  a  day  to  shorten  the  voy- 
age for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  so  con- 
structed that  they  cannot  enjoy  the  sea. 
Whatever  the  explanation  of  the  fact,  this  ex- 
perience of  losing  a  day  out  of  one's  life,  espe- 
cially when  he  knows  he  is  moving  toward 
the  "  sunset,"  has  solemn  implications  from 
the  view-point  of  science,  of  philosophy  or  of 
religion.  In  a  word,  it  reminds  one  that  a 
day  of  reckoning  is  sure  to  come;  and  that 
when  one  continues  to  borrow,  as  we  had  in 
turning  our  watches  back  a  half  hour  every 
day  of  our  voyage,  whether  one  borrows  time 
or  strength  or  money,  some  day  he  may  have 
to  pay,  and  the  experience  may  occasion  some 
surprise.  However,  there  is  a  brighter  view 
of  this  "  loss  of  a  day  "  at  the  one-hundred- 
and-eightieth  meridian:  some  "lost  days"  of 
life  may  never  be  regained,  but  this  full  day  at 
least  awaits  one,  and  can  be  recovered  just 
where  it  was  lost,  if  one  will  but  change  his 
course  and  steer  courageously  toward  the  sun- 
rise. 

Another  equally  practical  suggestion  came 
to  mind.  It  was  in  reference  to  my  friend 
who  is  a  Seventh  Day  Adventist.  He  wor- 
ships on  Saturday  and  regrets  that  we  hold 


1 «  WEST W  AED  HO ' '  25 

Sunday  as  the  day  of  sacred  rest.  Why  not 
have  this  friend  take  a  voyage  toward  the  west 
and  bring  all  his  sect  with  him?  Let  them 
carefully  observe  as  sacred  every  seventh  day, 
let  them  continue  their  journey  around  the 
world,  and  when  they  reach  home  they  will 
be  worshipping  on  the  same  day  with  all  their 
fellow-Christians.  Thus  simple  is  the  process 
of  converting  an  Adventist  into  a  Presbyterian. 
Thus  slight  are  some  of  the  barriers  which 
prevent  the  union  of  churches. 

Then  with  deeper  distress  came  the  thought 
of  the  Adventist  who  had  preceded  us  across 
the  sea  with  the  sole  purpose  of  distressing 
converted  heathen  by  telling  them  they  must 
observe  as  the  seventh  day,  a  day  the  number 
of  which  has  not  changed  since  the  creation  of 
the  world.  He  declares  it  a  sin  to  change  the 
day  of  sacred  rest;  yet  he  knows  that  when  he 
crossed  the  Pacific  he  dropped  a  day  from  his 
week  and  began  to  worship  on  Friday,  or,  if 
he  refused,  he  arrived  in  the  East  worshipping 
on  Sunday  with  all  his  fellow-Christians. 
Thus  in  crossing  the  one-hundred-and-eightieth 
degree,  the  Seventh  Day  Adventist  seems  to  be 
in  danger  of  losing  his  religion, — or  his  mind. 
Thus  serious  is  the  matter  of  journeying  west- 
ward toward  the  East ;  for  the  Adventist  is  not 
the  only  man  who  has  lost  his  religion  by  a 
voyage  across  the  sea. 


26      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

While  thus  meditating  about  the  Seventh 
Day,  on  the  eighth  day  from  Honolulu,  about 
noon,  there  appeared  in  the  western  sky  what 
seemed  at  first  to  be  a  fleecy  cloud,  but  later 
proved  to  be  the  desire  of  our  hearts,  a  distant 
view  of  the  snow-capped  summit  of  Fujiyama, 
"  the  sacred."  This  sight  was  the  signal  for 
packing  bags,  paying  fees,  and  leaving  the  ship 
for  a  glimpse  of  romantic,  picturesque  Japan. 

The  first  sight  which  usually  amuses  tourists 
in  the  Orient  is  that  of  their  fellow-passengers 
looking  supremely  uncomfortable  and  self-con- 
scious as  they  sit  perched  on  those  glorified 
baby-carriages,  the  "  jinrikishas  "  or  "  pull- 
man-cars,"  and  as  they  roll  silently  along  the 
wharf,  toward  the  Yokohama  hotels,  drawn  by 
little  brown-clad  Japanese  coolies. 

Some  of  us,  however,  wished  to  attempt  the 
perilous  experiment  of  "  hustling  the  East " ; 
we  were  anxious  to  save  time ;  so  we  mounted 
a  motor-car  and  rushed  off  to  pay  our  respects 
to  the  "Daibutsu"  or  "Great  Buddha"  of 
Kamakura. 

The  drive  was  indeed  one  of  deadly  peril, 
not  however  to  the  occupants  of  the  car,  but  to 
the  pedestrians  and  more  particularly  to  the 
children  who  scurried  out  from  under  the 
wheels  as  we  dashed  through  streets  and  alleys 
.and    lanes   so    narrow   that    the   mud-guards 


THE  DAIBUTSU 

"  The  colossal  image  of  brass  towered  before  us  some  fifty  feet  into 

the  evening  sky." 


*  WESTWARD  HO  "  2T 

seemed  to  scrape  along  the  piles  of  goods  dis- 
played in  the  little  open-fronted  shops  that 
lined  both  sides  of  the  way  through  the  city. 
No  one  in  the  party  commanded  enough  Japa- 
nese to  consult  with  the  driver  on  the  delicate 
topic  of  speed ;  so  we  resigned  ourselves  to  the 
probable  slaughter  of  innocents,  and  as  we  be- 
gan to  reach  stretches  of  open  country  we 
settled  down  to  enjoy  the  scenes  through  which 
we  were  passing.  There  were  wooded  hills 
and  vistas  of  the  sea,  and  crowded  villages 
and  fields  green  with  growing  grain ;  but  there 
were  two  features  of  the  landscape,  for  which 
we  had  been  prepared  properly  by  the  guide- 
books and  encyclopaedias,  which  impressed  us 
almost  with  the  force  of  discoveries ;  these  were 
the  cherry  blossoms  and  the  children. 

They  appeared  in  about  equal  numbers,  both 
in  the  state  of  nature,  but  many  of  the  latter 
were  clothed  in  kimonos  of  various  colours,  the 
younger  children  bound  to  the  backs  of  their 
mothers,  or  contentedly  clinging  to  the  shoul- 
ders of  sisters  or  brothers  little  larger  than 
themselves.  Both  the  abundant  blossoms  and 
the  superabundant  babes  seemed  symbolic,  the 
one  of  the  beauty,  the  other  of  the  growth  and 
hope  of  Japan. 

In  about  half  an  hour  we  found  ourselves 
standing  on  the  sloping  "  approach  "  and  gaz- 
ing in  wonder  at  the  colossal  image  of  brass 


28      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

which  towered  before  us  some  fifty  feet  into 
the  evening  sky.  We  lingered  there  in  the  twi- 
light, in  the  starlight,  in  the  moonlight,  ever 
more  deeply  impressed  by  the  majesty  and  the 
vast  proportions  of  the  statue.  As  a  symbol 
of  Buddhism  it  may  well  be  vast  in  propor- 
tions, for  before  that  image,  one-third  of  the 
human  race  or  more  than  four  hundred  million 
human  souls  are  virtually  bowing  in  worship, 
seeking  that  conquest  of  all  desire,  that  calm  of 
perfect  resignation,  which  the  face  of  this 
statue  so  perfectly  represents.  The  ideal  is  not 
that  of  holiness,  of  achievement,  of  service,  it 
is  the  "  Light  of  Asia  "  not  the  "  Light  of  the 
World." 

Leaving  Yokohama  next  day,  we  travelled 
the  eighteen  miles  to  Tokyo  by  a  truly  modern 
electric  train,  and  glimpses  of  the  Imperial 
Palace,  of  the  Imperial  University  and  of  the 
unique  new  Imperial  Hotel,  impressed  upon 
our  minds  the  fact  that  we  were  in  the  capital 
of  the  Island  Empire;  then,  further  extended 
motor  excursions,  in  various  directions,  with 
friends  residing  in  the  city,  made  us  realize 
that  Tokyo  is  one  of  the  four  or  five  largest 
cities  in  the  world.  Most  of  the  buildings  are 
insignificant  in  height;  they  seem  in  too  much 
terror  of  earthquakes  to  raise  themselves  far 
above  the  ground. 

Whatever  is  beautiful  in  the  way  of  gardens 


"WESTWAKD  HO"  29 

or  residences  is  carefully  screened  by  walls 
from  the  profane  gaze  of  the  tourist.  Broad, 
dusty  avenues  have  been  cut  through  mazes  of 
narrow  winding  streets  which  for  miles  stretch 
in  every  direction.  A  careful  search  discovers 
Christian  churches  and  schools  and  hospitals, 
but  it  cannot  be  said  that  religion  has  placed 
any  very  marked  impression  on  the  great 
metropolis. 

We  were  conducted  to  the  shops  on  the 
Ginza  and  on  the  crowded  cross-streets.  We 
were  entertained  in  a  restaurant  sitting  on  the 
floor  in  stocking  feet  and  struggling  with  chop- 
sticks. We  drove  to  Ueno  Park,  not  simply 
to  see  the  cherry  blossoms,  but  to  visit  the  na- 
tional Exhibition  where  were  displayed  all  the 
industrial  and  artistic  products  of  the  Empire. 
The  jostling  crowds  were  evidently  from  the 
country  districts,  for,  as  foreigners,  we  seemed 
to  attract  as  much  attention  as  other  "  exhib- 
its," a  fact  which  suggested  the  truth  that 
Western  influence  and  Christianity  itself  have 
reached  only  a  fractional  part  of  Japan. 

A  night  on  a  Japanese  sleeper  may  leave 
something  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  luxury, 
but  it  brought  us  to  the  ancient,  Western  cap- 
ital, charming  Kyoto.  It  was  a  picture  of  love- 
liness as  we  looked  down  upon  it  from  the 
hotel;  it  seemed  to  be  a  bouquet  of  cherry- 
blossoms,  enveloped  by  hills  of  green. 


30      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

It  is,  however,  a  city  "  wholly  given  to 
idolatry."  Of  course  one  will  enjoy  a  visit  to 
the  grounds  and  buildings  of  the  Mikado's 
Palace;  he  will  struggle  against  the  tempta- 
tion to  bankrupt  himself  in  the  shops  which 
are  the  most  attractive  in  the  land,  but  his  real 
concern  in  Kyoto  will  be  its  countless  temples. 

We  rambled  through  acres  of  these  struc- 
tures, carefully  depositing  our  shoes  outside  in 
the  rain,  and  walking  in  cloth  slippers  over 
vast  expanses  of  polished  floors,  passing  before 
uncounted  idols  and  becoming  more  and  more 
depressed  by  realizing  the  familiar  fact  that  a 
proud  modern  empire,  one  of  the  five  great 
powers  of  the  world,  is  in  the  deadening  grasp 
of  false  religions  and  degrading  cults. 

It  was  a  relief  to  drive  out  to  Lake  Biwa, 
although  the  superb  view  there  was  obtained 
from  the  platform  of  a  heathen  temple.  How- 
ever, it  was  an  unalloyed  pleasure,  one  sunny 
spring  morning,  as  the  guest  of  friends  from 
Princeton,  to  make  the  excursion  to  the  rapids 
of  Katsura-gawa.  We  motored  out  through 
the  fields  and  villages,  along  the  busy  roads,  to 
Hozu  and  then  boarded  a  crude  little  craft,  but 
were  comfortably  seated  in  chairs,  as  we  shot 
the  rapids  to  Arashi-yama,  some  thirteen  miles 
below.  The  river  rushed  through  a  rocky 
gorge,  but  the  boatmen  were  skillful,  and  the 
scene  was  charming,  as  the  green  hills  which 


1 *  WESTWARD  HO"  31 

rose  precipitously  from  the  banks  of  the  wind- 
ing stream  were  densely  covered  with  foliage 
and  were  adorned  by  great  masses  of  bright 
blossoms. 

Such  a  scene  was  a  perfect  preparation  for 
our  sail,  next  day,  through  the  famous  beauties 
of  the  Inland  Sea.  At  sunset  we  passed  the 
narrow  straits  at  Shimonoseki;  all  of  Good 
Friday  we  ploughed  the  Yellow  Sea,  which, 
however,  was  blue  in  the  morning  and  green 
in  the  afternoon,  but  sufficiently  muddy  to  be 
regarded  as  yellow  as,  toward  evening,  we 
dropped  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yangtse. 
The  next  morning  we  landed  at  Shanghai,  the 
place  of  all  places  to  end  a  westward  voyage 
to  the  Far  East,  for  here,  as  in  no  other  place, 
the  East  and  the  West  are  found  to  meet. 


II 

CHINA 

SHANGHAI  is  rightly  regarded  as  the 
"  Gateway  of  China,"  and  in  China  a 
gateway  is  never  a  thing  to  be  despised ; 
for  this  is  a  land  of  walls.  The  Great  Wall, 
stretching  fourteen  hundred  miles  across  the 
northern  border,  is  not  merely  a  monument  of 
the  past,  it  is  a  symbol  for  the  present  of  all 
Chinese  life,  whether  domestic,  social,  re- 
ligious or  political;  all  is  surrounded  by  bar- 
riers, and  those  who  find  no  special  way  of 
entrance  pass  by  in  ignorance  of  the  meaning 
and  mystery  which  lie  within. 

Shanghai  is  not  to  be  despised,  although 
some  travellers  affect  such  contempt.  Of 
course  when  one  has  travelled  ten  thousand 
miles  in  search  of  the  Far  East,  he  is  a  little 
surprised  to  find  a  great  commercial  city  with 
so  many  great  buildings  and  broad  boulevards, 
and  the  beautiful  homes  and  the  crowded  street 
cars  and  noisy  motors  and  similar  reminders 
of  the  conventional  and  commonplace  West. 

However,  when  one  has  been  jostled  for  a 

few  days  by  the  hurrying  crowd  of  natives, 

when  he  sees  that  only  one  in  seventy-five,  of 

the  million  and  a  half  of  the  residents,  is  a 

32 


THE  GREAT  WALL 

Once  1700  miles  in  length;  it  is  35  feet  high  and  23  feet  thick; 

the  greatest  defensive  work  in  the  world. 


CHINA  33 

foreigner,  when  he  turns  from  the  Interna- 
tional and  French  settlements  and  plunges  into 
the  wild  welter  of  the  "  native  city,"  he  will 
encounter  sufficient  foul  odours,  piles  of  pro- 
visions and  coffins,  squalid  hovels,  clinging 
beggars,  mangy  dogs  and  other  sickening  sights 
to  satisfy  the  most  romantic  lover  of  the  allur- 
ing mysteries  of  the  Orient. 

In  Shanghai  one  can  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
Far  East,  and  he  can  even  use  this  city  as  a 
Gateway  to  the  realm  of  Christian  missions. 
Evidently  most  tourists  need  such  an  entrance ; 
for  most  of  them  travel  through  these  Eastern 
lands  and  never  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  fascinat- 
ing fields  of  enterprise  and  endeavour  which 
often  lie  hidden  behind  the  walls  of  Western 
indifference  and  ignorance  and  prejudice. 

Many  persons  imagine  that  they  have  seen 
Shanghai  when  they  can  tell  you  of  the  busi- 
ness houses  on  the  Bund,  of  the  Bubbling  Well 
mansions,  of  the  shops  on  Nanking  Road,  of 
the  events  of  the  Race  Course  or  the  "  dinner- 
dances  "  at  the  "  Astor  House  Hotel."  They 
would  be  surprised  and  delighted  if  given  even 
a  glimpse  of  the  charming  campus  of  St.  John's 
University,  the  beautiful  new  buildings  of  the 
Baptist  University,  of  the  ornate  old  palace 
occupied  by  the  McTeyre  School  for  Girls,  or 
the  great  educational  work  being  done  by  the 
Presbyterians  behind  the  walls  of  their  com- 


34      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

pound,  but  hardly  beyond  the  odours  of  the 
streets  and  canals,  at  the  South  Gate  of  the 
Chinese  City. 

However,  to  those  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  gain  an  entrance,  Shanghai  offered 
in  May,  1922,  a  true  gateway  for  an  investi- 
gation of  the  missionary  occupation  of  China. 
At  a  great  National  Christian  Conference 
there  were  gathered  twelve  hundred  delegates 
representing  all  the  forces  now  engaged  in  the 
evangelizing  of  this  land.  It  was  a  natural 
place  for  such  a  gathering,  for  here  are  the 
headquarters  of  practically  all  the  societies 
and  organizations  whose  influences  radiate 
throughout  the  eighteen  provinces  and  pene- 
trate into  Mongolia  and  Manchuria  and 
Thibet. 

It  was  not  the  first  Christian  Conference,  of 
a  national  character,  to  be  held  in  this  city;  but 
the  others  have  been  mainly  gatherings  of  mis- 
sionaries and  of  persons  representing  mission- 
ary agencies,  as  for  instance  the  notable  Cen- 
tenary Conference  of  1907  which  celebrated 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  begin- 
ning of  missionary  effort  in  China  and  re- 
called the  arrival  of  Robert  Morrison  in  Can- 
ton. 

The  distinguishing  feature,  however,  of  the 
Conference  held  in  Shanghai,  May  2-11,  1922, 
was  the  fact  that  it  was  composed  not  only  of 


CHINA  35 

foreigners,  but  of  an  equal  number  of  Chinese ; 
or  to  be  more  exact,  subtracting  the  forty-five 
representatives  of  Western  Boards  and 
Agencies,  there  were  but  four  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  foreign  delegates  and  five  hundred 
and  sixty-five  Chinese.  Of  these  latter,  sixty- 
three  were  women. 

The  Conference  marked  the  new  epoch 
which  is  opening  in  the  development  of  Chi- 
nese Christianity.  For  a  hundred  and  fifteen 
years  Christianity  has  been  regarded  as  a  for- 
eign religion.  Its  leaders  and  most  of  its 
financial  support  have  come  from  Western 
lands  and  churches.  It  is  felt,  however,  that 
the  time  has  now  come  for  the  Chinese  Chris- 
tians to  assume  an  ever  increasing  share  in  the 
control  and  the  extension  of  the  Christian 
forces  and  agencies  in  their  own  land.  Ulti- 
mately China  must  be  evangelized  by  Chinese, 
and  one  great  purpose  of  the  Conference  was 
to  aid  Chinese  Christians  in  recognizing  their 
unity  and  their  responsibility. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  at  present 
Christian  believers  in  China  are  divided  into  a 
very  large  number  of  denominations  which 
derive  their  names  and  characteristics  from  the 
separated  churches  of  the  West.  Such  a  condi- 
tion has  often  been  ridiculed ;  it  is  unfortunate, 
but  for  a  time  it  was  inevitable.  No  one 
Western  church  was  strong  enough  to  under- 


36      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

take,  unaided,  the  evangelization  of  so  vast  a 
country;  and  as  the  Christian  societies  in  all 
the  home  lands  were  divided,  it  was  natural 
that  their  missionary  representatives  should,  at 
first,  train  their  converts  along  the  exact  lines 
of  faith  and  order  which  they  themselves  held. 

More  recently,  however,  there  have  been  ef- 
forts toward  closer  union,  particularly  within 
the  groups  of  the  same  denomination.  Thus 
the  Episcopal  Churches  have  one  national  or- 
ganization of  Chinese  Christians;  and  just  be- 
fore the  National  Christian  Conference  con- 
vened there  was  held  in  Shanghai  the  first 
regular  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  China.  To  further 
such  movements  toward  union,  in  fact  to  fos- 
ter the  project  of  one  national  church  for  all 
Chinese  Christians,  was  one  of  the  prime  pur- 
poses of  the  National  Christian  Conference. 
The  further  and  more  definite  aim  was  to  es- 
tablish an  organization  which  would  coordinate 
the  work  of  the  various  missions  with  that  of 
the  existing  churches,  or  with  that  of  such  a 
national  church,  should  the  latter  come  into 
being.  The  great  theme  of  the  Conference, 
therefore,  was  the  "  Chinese  Church."  To 
prepare  for  the  work  of  the  Conference,  five 
commissions  were  appointed  to  deal  with  the 
following  subjects: 

(1)    The  Present  State  of  Christianity  in 


CHINA  87 

China;  (2)  The  Future  Work  of  the  Church; 
(3)  The  Message  of  the  Church;  (4)  The  De- 
velopment of  Leadership  for  the  Work  of  the 
Church;  (5)  Coordination  and  Cooperation  in 
the  Work  of  the  Church. 

The  chairmen  of  two  of  these  committees 
were  Chinese,  as  were  the  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  committees.  In  preparing 
their  reports,  hundreds  of  the  most  experienced 
Christian  workers,  both  Chinese  and  foreign, 
were  consulted,  so  that  the  findings  and  recom- 
mendations of  these  committees  represent  the 
mature  thought  of  a  very  large  number  of  spe- 
cialists in  the  subjects  under  consideration. 
In  framing  their  reports  these  committees  also 
had  the  aid  of  two  documents,  both  of  an  ex- 
traordinary character. 

The  first  was  the  report  of  the  "  China  Edu- 
cational Committee  of  1921  and  1922."  This 
committee,  composed  of  leading  educational- 
ists from  America,  England  and  China,  had 
spent  four  months  in  making  a  survey  of  the 
whole  field  of  missionary  education  in  China. 
Their  report,  now  published  under  the  title  of 
"Christian  'Education  in  China''  together  with 
the  reports  of  the  National  Christian  Confer- 
ence, offers  to  China  an  outline  of  the  most 
perfectly  graded  and  coordinated  system  of 
Christian  education  existing  in  any  modern 
nation. 


38      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

The  other  document  was  the  "General  Sur- 
vey "of  the  numerical  strength  and  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  the  Christian  forces 
in  China,  made  by  a  special  committee  under 
the  leadership  of  the  Rev.  Milton  T.  Stauffer. 
It  comprises  some  six  hundred  quarto  pages, 
and  is  probably  the  most  elaborate  and  careful 
survey  ever  made  of  a  great  missionary  field. 

Thus  aided,  the  Committees  were  able  to 
present,  to  the  members  of  the  National  Con- 
ference, reports  which,  together  with  the  two 
volumes  already  mentioned,  will  be  indispen- 
sable to  any  one  who  wishes  to  form  a  fair  esti- 
mate of  the  present  state  of  Christianity  in 
China,  of  the  most  approved  methods  of  mis- 
sionary work,  and  of  some  of  the  chief  prob- 
lems which  now  confront  the  universal  Church 
of  Christ. 

These  reports  show  that  the  present  numer- 
ical strength  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  China 
is  approximately  375,000,  which  is  more  than 
a  fourfold  increase  since  the  Boxer  uprising  of 
the  year  1900;  and  to  this  statement  as  to 
church  numbers  must  be  added  the  long  list  of 
native  leaders  and  of  the  large  Christian  insti- 
tutions and  a  generous  estimate  of  the  wide 
influence  of  the  Christian  community. 

It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the  work  of 
evangelizing  China  has  only  been  begun ;  375,- 
000  out  of  400,000,000  is  less  than  one  in  one 


CHINA  39 

thousand,  less  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent. 
There  are  vast  areas  as  yet  unreached,  scores  of 
great  walled  cities  unentered,  countless  multi- 
tudes who  have  never  heard  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage. 

The  first  result  of  this  Conference,  there- 
fore, was  a  fresh  realization  of  the  gigantic 
task  of  the  Christian  Church. 

A  second  result  was  a  deepened  sense  of 
unity  among  the  many  denominations  of  Chi- 
nese Christians.  As  the  Conference  pro- 
gressed it  became  evident  to  all  that  the  time 
had  not  yet  come  for  any  movement  toward  the 
organization  of  a  National  Chinese  Church; 
yet  the  Chinese  delegates  revealed  the  surpris- 
ing strength  of  the  native  Christian  leaders, 
and  plainly  expressed  their  desire  for  increased 
ecclesiastical  independence,  and  their  self-con- 
sciousness as  an  indigenous  church.  While  no 
visible  organization  was  proposed,  this  sense 
of  unity  and  of  responsibility  was  so  great  that 
the  chairman  of  the  Conference,  a  Chinese 
leader  of  poise  and  discretion,  could  exclaim 
with  fervour,  "  This  meeting  is  the  birthplace 
of  the  Chinese  Church." 

However,  no  one  felt  that  this  infant,  inor- 
ganic, potential  church  was  ready  to  assume 
responsibility  for  the  evangelizing  of  China, 
without  further  aid  from  the  West.  The  bur- 
den must  be  assumed  gradually.     Eventually 


40      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAK  EAST 

Chinese  Christians  must  be  relieved  from  the 
stigma  of  being  adherents  of  a  foreign  religion, 
they  must  be  free  from  the  denominational 
divisions  which  have  been  imported  from 
Western  Christianity,  and  must  be  independent 
of  foreign  support.  However,  let  no  one 
dream  that  this  day  has  come  or  that  the  work 
of  the  Western  churches  is  now  complete. 
Vast  sums  of  money  and  great  reinforcements 
of  devoted  men  and  women  must  be  sent  to 
China  if  the  work  now  begun  is  to  be  continued 
successfully.  The  ideal  toward  which  all  mis- 
sionaries are  working  is  to  make  their  own  ef- 
forts superfluous  by  the  establishing  of  a  self- 
supporting  and  self-governing  indigenous 
church,  which  can  evangelize  its  own  land. 
That  ideal  has  not  been  attained  in  China.  As 
it  is  more  and  more  perfectly  realized,  delicate 
questions  will  arise  involving  the  relations  be- 
tween the  missions  and  the  churches.  A 
strong  desire  was  expressed  by  the  Chinese 
delegates  to  the  Conference  that  during  this 
period  of  transition,  there  should  be  no  separa- 
tion between  these  forces,  but  that  sympathetic 
and  whole-hearted  cooperation  should  be  main- 
tained. 

An  effort  to  provide  for  such  true  unity 
among  the  Christian  forces  in  China  was  the 
most  definite  and  concrete  result  of  the  Con- 
ference.   There  was  formed  a  National  Chris- 


CHINA  41 

tian  Council,  composed  of  one  hundred  mem- 
bers, seventy-five  of  whom  were  nominated  by 
the  denominational  groups  represented  in  the 
Conference,  and  twenty-five  additional  mem- 
bers proposed  by  these  nominees.  The  Council 
is  to  meet  annually  and  is  to  continue  in  exist- 
ence until  it  convenes  another  national  Con- 
ference, sometime  within  the  next  ten  years. 
The  Council  is  to  elect  its  own  officers  and  to 
appoint  an  executive  committee  of  not  more 
than  twenty-one  members,  a  majority  of  whom, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Council,  shall  be  Chinese. 
The  great  purpose  of  this  new  organization  is 
to  express  and  to  promote  unity  and  harmony 
among  all  the  societies  and  churches,  both  for- 
eign and  Chinese,  which  are  engaged  in  the 
evangelization  of  the  land. 

For  the  formation  of  such  a  national  coun- 
cil there  was  a  remarkably  unanimous  desire. 
There  are  differences  of  theological  views 
among  the  Christian  workers  in  China;  some 
may  be  regarded  as  serious  and  radical.  They 
are  the  same  which  exist  in  America  and  in 
England.  A  journey  across  the  Pacific  does 
not  necessarily  change  religious  convictions. 
These  differences  undoubtedly  threaten  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  and  to  retard  the  growth  of  the 
Chinese  Church.  However,  the  action  of  the 
Conference  in  establishing  this  National  Chris- 
tian Council  expressed  the  deep  yearning  for 


42      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  EAR  EAST 

harmonious  action  and  united  effort  which  ani- 
mates even  those  who  are  most  solicitous  as  to 
the  future  of  Christian  work  in  the  Orient.  It 
is  in  the  reports  of  such  a  great  Conference  as 
this  which  met  in  Shanghai,  that  one  who  de- 
sires a  glimpse  at  missionary  enterprise  in 
China  can  find  a  gateway  into  a  field  of  re- 
markable interest  and  importance.  He  will 
learn  that  six  thousand  men  and  women,  from 
distant  homes,  are  now  labouring  as  Christian 
missionaries  in  this  one  land  of  the  Far  East, 
and  that,  despite  their  denominational  differ- 
ences, they  are  consciously  one  in  their  purpose, 
their  efforts  and  their  hopes. 

Another  gateway  through  which  one  can 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  forces  that  are  trans- 
forming China  can  be  found  by  visiting  the 
great  plant  of  the  Commercial  Press  at  Shang- 
hai. This  is  the  largest  printing  establishment 
in  Asia  and  one  of  the  largest  and  most  effi- 
cient in  the  world.  It  employs  thousands  of 
workers,  its  buildings  cover  acres  of  ground, 
its  machinery  is  most  modern  and  its  equip- 
ment includes  even  a  department  for  producing 
moving-picture  films.  From  its  presses  issues 
a  vast  variety  of  publications,  of  school  books, 
of  advertisements,  of  Bibles,  printed  both  in 
the  Chinese  characters  and  in  the  modern,  pop- 
ular "  phonetic  "  type.     Its  influences  extend 


CHINA  43 

to  every  part  of  the  land  and  aid  immeasur- 
ably in  producing  the  New  China. 

This  great  Press,  however,  is  a  direct  prod- 
uct of  Protestant  missions.  It  was  founded 
and  developed  by  two  Christian  men  who  were 
educated  in  mission  schools  and  were  prepared 
for  their  great  work  by  being  employed  for 
years  in  the  Presbyterian  Press,  which  is  the 
oldest  printing  establishment  in  China  and  one 
of  the  chief  glories  of  the  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion. 

In  this  connection,  too,  should  be  mentioned 
the  influence  of  evangelical  literature  and  of 
such  periodicals  as  the  Chinese  Christian  Intel- 
ligencer, by  means  of  which  the  Gospel  is  be- 
ing sent  forth  from  Shanghai  to  all  the  prov- 
inces of  China. 

A  gateway  which  leads  into  a  limited  but  sig- 
nificant realm  of  life  is  found  in  the  Foreign 
Protestant  Churches  in  Shanghai.  It  is  com- 
monly supposed  that  the  lives  of  foreign  resi- 
dents in  the  Far  East  are  so  lax  morally,  and 
so  utterly  irreligious,  as  to  constitute  a  great 
obstacle  to  Christian  missions  and  a  disgrace  to 
Christian  nations.  It  is  probably  true  that  a 
large  city  like  Shanghai  is  a  refuge  for  moral 
derelicts  and  is  filled  with  temptations  to  vari- 
ous forms  of  vice  and  is  lacking  in  the  religious 
restraints  found  in  most  Western  communities. 


44      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  it  contains  groups  of  devoted  Christians 
such  as  were  found  in  these  Protestant 
churches.  Besides  the  Episcopal  Cathedral, 
might  be  mentioned  the  Union  Church,  the 
Community  Church,  and  the  Free  Christian 
Church.  In  all  of  these,  week  after  week, 
large  and  eager  audiences  were  faced;  nor 
could  one  find  more  genuine  fervour  than  in 
the  seven  Sunday  services  conducted  in  the 
last  named  of  these  churches,  the  membership 
of  which  was  composed  mostly  of  missionary 
workers.  The  Community  Church  is  largely 
a  product  of  American  business  men;  it  is 
planning  to  erect  a  building  in  the  newly  de- 
veloped foreign  residence  section  of  the 
"  French  Concession."  These  churches  are 
doing  much  toward  impressing  Christian  ideals 
upon  the  social  and  commercial  life  of  the  city. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  instruments  for 
opening  non-Christian  lands  to  the  reception 
of  the  Christian  message  has  been  found  in  the 
work  of  medical  missions.  Shanghai  again 
furnishes  a  gateway  through  which  one  can 
catch  a  glimpse  of  that  fascinating  form  of 
work.  Saint  Luke's  and  the  Margaret  Wil- 
liamson Hospitals  should  surely  be  visited ;  but 
not  the  least  remarkable,  possibly  the  most  im- 
pressively interesting  of  all,  is  the  Bethel  Hos- 


CHINA  45 

pital  and  Nurses'  Training  School,  conducted, 
near  the  West  Gate  of  the  native  city,  by  Dr. 
Mary  Stone  and  her  Chinese  and  foreign  asso- 
ciates. Dr.  Stone  received  her  thorough  med- 
ical and  surgical  training  in  America ;  for  some 
years  she  practised  in  an  inland  city  of  China, 
but  more  recently  established  her  work  in 
Shanghai,  near  the  great  cotton  factories  and 
directly  across  Arsenal  Road  from  the  barracks 
of  thousands  of  Chinese  soldiers. 

Just  here  is  a  bit  of  humour  and  romance. 
A  dog  carried  from  the  hospital  into  the  bar- 
racks a  Bible,  which  he  had  partly  destroyed. 
The  soldiers  read  the  stories  and  were  so  inter- 
ested that  they  came  over  to  the  hospital  to 
secure  a  complete  copy  of  the  Book,  and  this 
interest  opened  up  the  way  for  Dr.  Stone,  not 
only  to  treat  the  wives  and  families  of  these 
men,  but  to  bring  to  them  the  Gospel  message. 
The  hospital  is  now  self-supporting  and,  with 
the  school  and  its  new  Gospel  Tabernacle,  is  a 
most  definite  and  successful  evangelizing 
agency.  The  work  of  Dr.  Stone  gives  a 
glimpse  of  what  the  Gospel  of  Christ  is  doing 
for  the  women  of  China  and  of  what  women, 
both  Chinese  and  foreign,  are  doing  toward 
spreading  the  Gospel  in  China. 

China  is  a  land  of  funerals  and  graves.  As 
one  journeys  through  the  country  in  any  direc- 


46      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAB  EAST 

tion  he  is  surprised  by  the  sight  of  the  innu- 
merable mounds  which  mark  the  sleeping  places 
of  the  dead;  and  even  when  jostling  through 
the  crowds  of  the  city  streets  he  is  impressed 
not,  for  instance,  with  the  truly  interesting 
wedding  pageants,  but  rather  with  the  funeral 
processions  which  form  the  most  spectacular 
feature  of  Chinese  life.  The  central  object  in 
one  of  these  processions  is,  of  course,  the  great 
catafalque  in  which  the  coffin  is  borne.  This 
rests  on  a  huge  framework  of  poles  supported 
on  the  shoulders  of  coolies  who  number  thirty- 
two  or  sixty- four,  or  even  as  many  as  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-eight.  Modern  brass  bands 
playing  gay  and  festive  tunes,  or  mournful 
and  weird  wind-instruments,  mingle  their  notes 
with  the  wailing  of  the  mourners.  Great 
numbers  of  standard-bearers  carry  flags  and 
streamers;  but  the  most  interesting  feature  in 
the  processions  consists  in  the  articles  made  of 
paper  which  are  burned  and  so,  passing  into  the 
unseen,  provide  for  the  dead  man  all  possible 
necessities  in  the  world  of  spirits.  These  ar- 
ticles include  not  only  large  quantities  of  paper 
money  but  houses  and  horses  and,  at  present, 
full-sized  automobiles. 

Of  course  all  these  customs  are  sadly  con- 
nected with  the  ignorance  and  superstition  and 
false  religious  conceptions  of  the  people. 

Possibly  a  Chinese  funeral,  as  no  other  spec- 


CHINA  47 

tacle,  suggests  how  truly  this  nation  is  in  need 
of  Christ.  When  on  his  way  from  the  north, 
an  esteemed  friend,  one  of  the  most  charming 
delegates  to  the  Shanghai  Conference,  re- 
marked to  his  wife,  "  I  do  wish  these  Chinese 
Christians  who  are  with  us  could  see  a  Chris- 
tian funeral  while  in  the  city,  because,  as  we 
discourage  ancestor  worship,  the  Chinese  com- 
monly think  that  we  do  not  honour  our  dead 
and  because  they  do  not  know  how  at  such 
times  we  express  our  Christian  hope." 

By  a  strange  providence  he  was  stricken  with 
heart  disease  during  the  days  of  the  Confer- 
ence; everything  was  done  to  give  him  relief, 
but  all  to  no  avail ;  and  smiling  he  fell  asleep, 
saying  in  a  farewell  word  that  he  was  privi- 
leged above  others  in  that  he  was  so  soon  to  see 
his  Lord. 

Then  those  Chinese  did  see  a  Christian  fu- 
neral, though  they  saw  it  through  their  tears. 
As  they  walked  along  that  paved  avenue  of 
lime  trees  where  the  birds  were  singing,  as 
they  entered  that  crowded  vine-clad  chapel  and 
heard  the  hymns  and  messages  of  triumph, 
they  realized  that  their  "  beloved  physician  " 
was  already  with  his  Lord ;  and  as  they  saw  his 
body  lowered  into  the  grave,  in  the  beautiful 
Bubbling  Well  Cemetery,  they  were  reminded 
of  Him  who  is  indeed  "  the  Resurrection  and 
the  Life." 


48      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

To  the  traveller  who  uses  Shanghai  as  a 
gateway  to  China,  the  two  cities  most  accessible 
and  of  chief  interest  are  Hangchow  and  Soo- 
chow.  There  is  a  Chinese  proverb  which  says 
that  "  Heaven  is  away  in  the  sky,  but  Soochow 
and  Hangchow  are  here  below."  There  are 
many  possible  ways  of  interpreting  such  a 
proverb,  but  the  obvious  one  is  that  these  cities 
are  attractive  and  easy  of  access. 

Hangchow  has  been  the  terminus  of  the 
Grand  Canal  for  over  six  centuries.  For  the 
past  ten  years  it  has  been  the  terminus  of  a  rail- 
road. The  journey  from  Shanghai  formerly 
occupied  six  days  by  boat;  it  is  now  a  ride  of 
four  or  five  hours  by  train.  The  route  lies 
through  a  rich  farming  country  which,  in  the 
springtime,  is  glorious  with  its  fields  of  green 
and  gold  and  fascinating  with  its  canals  and 
shrines  and  grey-walled  cities. 

Hangchow  has  a  situation  of  rare  beauty. 
Three  sides  are  surrounded  by  an  amphitheatre 
of  hills.  To  the  west  stretch  the  quiet  waters 
of  the  great  artificial  lake,  the  shores  of  which 
are  dotted  with  monasteries  and  pagodas  and 
other  monuments  of  the  past.  Marco  Polo  re- 
garded Hangchow  as  the  noblest  and  best  city 
in  the  world,  and  while  much  of  its  ancient 
splendour  has  faded,  it  still  claims  the  title  of 
"  Heaven  below."  This  phrase  must  be  ac- 
cepted with  some  limitations,  especially  when 


CHINA  49 

one  wanders  through  the  narrow,  dirty  streets 
of  certain  sections  of  the  city.  So,  too,  while 
one  admires  the  picturesque  monasteries  of  the 
West  Lake  and  its  environs,  it  is  rather  de- 
pressing to  be  reminded  by  them  of  the  degrad- 
ing heathenism  by  which  the  great  masses  of 
the  Chinese  people  are  still  bound.  In  these 
very  monasteries  are  between  five  and  six  hun- 
dred priests,  most  of  whom  are  leading  lives  so 
lazy  and  dissolute  that  the  popular  proverb  says 
"  If  you  would  find  a  man  of  black  heart,  look 
among  the  monks." 

Christian  missions  and  Western  education 
are  doing  much  to  transform  and  renew  the 
life  of  this  historic  city.  Perhaps  the  most  in- 
teresting feature  of  the  religious  work  is  the 
unity  existing  among  all  the  representatives 
of  the  various  churches  and  expressed  in  the 
organization  of  the  Union  Evangelistic  Com- 
mittee which  coordinates  all  the  various  activi- 
ties of  the  six  missions  that  are  working  to- 
gether with  such  marked  success. 

It  was  a  privilege  to  visit  the  new  building 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the 
ground  for  which  was  given  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  to  address  an  audience  of  alert  and 
ambitious  men  and  boys. 

It  was  also  an  inspiration  to  confer  with  the 
missionaries  and  see  the  different  "  com- 
pounds," the  hospital  and  the  churches,  and  to 


60      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

meet  in  one  of  the  mission  schools  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  famous  patriot  Yuan. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  he  was  governor 
of  the  Province  at  the  time  of  the  Boxer  up- 
rising. An  edict  had  been  issued  ordering  the 
death  of  all  foreigners.  Yuan  changed  the 
word  "  kill  "  to  "  protect,"  and  then  published 
the  edict.  The  Empress  regarded  this  act  as 
treason.  The  foreigners  in  the  Province  were 
indeed  saved;  but  he  was  sawn  asunder,  the 
halves  of  his  bleeding  body  thrown  into  a 
rough  box  and  buried.  However,  when  public 
opinion  changed,  he  was  given  a  state  funeral 
by  command  of  the  Emperor,  and  his  name 
was  inscribed  in  the  Hall  of  Fame. 

The  point  of  greatest  interest,  possibly,  was 
the  Hangchow  Christian  College.  Not  the 
least  impressive  feature  is  the  site  of  its  cam- 
pus. Where  is  there  another  like  it?  Pos- 
sibly that  of  Robert  College,  Constantinople, 
may  be  its  equal.  Like  the  latter  it  is  outside 
the  city,  in  fact  some  four  miles  beyond  the 
great  walls.  It  lies  on  the  slopes  of  a  high  hill, 
above  the  broad  Chien  Tang  River,  command- 
ing a  superb  view  of  mountain  and  plain  and 
water  and  sky.  What  is  more  important  is  the 
fact  that  this  college  is  situated  in  the  midst  of 
the  seventeen  million  people  of  Chekiang 
Province,  the  only  institution  of  its  kind. 
Surely  it  is  worthy  of  more  liberal  support 


CHINA  51 

from  the  American  Presbyterians  by  whom  it 
has  been  established. 

Hangchow  lies  to  the  southwest,  but  Soo- 
chow  some  three  hours  by  rail  to  the  north  of 
Shanghai.  Why  it  is  regarded  as  near  or  like 
to  heaven  it  is  difficult  to  imagine;  but  one 
must  remember  that  it  once  had  a  glory  which 
is  departed,  and  that  few  facts  in  the  Far  East 
seem  to  support  popular  theories  of  evolution. 

Soochow  is  more  commonly  called  the  Ven- 
ice or  Amsterdam  of  China;  however,  it  looks 
as  though  it  would  require  a  century  of  con- 
tinuous washing  and  fumigating  to  make  it 
compare  with  even  the  less  cleanly  of  these 
European  cities.  However,  if  one  can  be 
happy  when  not  inhaling  perfume,  and  can  set 
his  eyes  strictly  for  the  picturesque,  he  will  re- 
gard a  day  in  Soochow  as  one  of  the  most 
memorable  in  his  life. 

Hangchow  boasts  an  artificial  lake ;  Soochow 
is  an  artificial  city ;  that  is,  it  was  built  to  order 
for  old  King  Wu.  He  selected  a  group  of  is- 
lands among  a  score  of  lakes,  he  connected 
them  by  bridges,  surrounded  them  by  a  great 
rectangular  wall,  intersected  them  with  canals, 
beautified  them  with  parks  and  palaces  and  li- 
braries and  comfortable  homes,  and  then  emp- 
tied three  large  cities  to  supply  inhabitants  for 
his  beautiful  new  capital 


52      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAK  EAST 

However  that  was  a  great  many  years  ago; 
the  splendour  has  faded,  but  the  city  is  still 
famous  for  its  silks,  its  suicides,  its  pagodas 
and  its  canals.  Silks  form  the  glory  of  Soo- 
chow;  they  are  its  staple  product  and  chief 
source  of  wealth;  but  how  these  delicate  fab- 
rics, with  their  artistic  designs  and  perfect 
workmanship,  can  come  out  of  those  dark, 
damp,  dirty,  earthen-floored  huts  is  a  mystery 
to  all  beholders. 

As  to  the  canals,  spanned  by  their  beautiful 
bridges  and  fragrant  with  the  accumulated 
odours  of  ages,  they  are  oi  continual  service, 
not  only  as  furnishing  means  of  transporta- 
tion, but  as  receptacles  for  all  kinds  of  refuse, 
while  in  them  all  clothing  is  washed,  all  food 
is  cleansed,  fish  are  hatched,  and  from  them 
drinking  water  is  supplied. 

The  pagodas  of  Soochow  are  among  the 
most  impressive  of  the  land.  At  Lin  Yin  Mon- 
astery, near  Hangchow,  is  an  inscription  de- 
claring that  those  who  enter  are  only  "  one 
foot  from  heaven."  If  this  is  equally  true  of 
any  place  in  Soochow,  it  must  be  on  the  top  of 
the  Great  Pagoda,  the  highest  in  China  and  so 
in  the  world.  It  is  octagonal  in  shape,  contains 
nine  stories  and  rises  some  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  height.  It  commands  a  superb 
view;  the  narrow  streets  and  canals  of  the 
city,  the  great  lake  to  the  west,  the  picturesque 


CHINA  53 

pagodas,  the  ranges  of  hills,  the  many  villages, 
towns  and  cities,  and  best  of  all,  within  the 
city  and  beyond  its  walls,  like  oases  in  the 
desert,  the  "  compounds  "  of  the  University,  of 
the  hospitals,  and  of  the  schools  and  the 
churches,  established  by  Christian  missionaries. 
Their  work  seems  to  be  the  only  hope  of  the 
land.  The  view  from  the  Great  Pagoda  brings 
five  million  people  within  the  range  of  vision; 
in  the  great  new  temple  near  the  Presbyterian 
compound  the  people  are  worshippers  of  five 
hundred  gods ;  how  long  will  it  be  before  these 
worshippers  come  to  know  the  transforming 
power  of  Christ? 

Nanking,  or  "  The  Southern  Capital,"  was 
given  this  honorary  title  by  the  Ming  Em- 
peror Yung  when  he  removed  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment to  the  "Northern  Capital,"  Peking. 
For  centuries  it  had  been  the  most  important 
city  in  China,  and  even  to  the  present  time  it  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  provincial 
capitals. 

It  is  situated  on  the  Yangtse  some  two  hun- 
dred miles  north  of  Shanghai.  Its  great  walls, 
thirty  to  fifty  feet  in  height,  are  over  thirty 
miles  in  circumference  and  enclose  a  vast  area, 
large  portions  of  which  are  not  covered  with 
buildings  but  consist  of  green  hills  and  culti- 
vated fields. 


64      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

The  most  conspicuous  objects  in  the  city  are 
the  buildings  belonging  to  the  various  educa- 
tional institutions.  Travellers  who  confess  or 
boast  that  they  see  nothing  of  Christian  mis- 
sions can  never  have  in  mind  their  visit  to  Nan- 
king. Here  instruction  is  being  given  to  boys 
and  girls  and  men  and  women  in  every  grade 
from  the  kindergarten  to  the  College,  Univer- 
sity and  Theological  Seminary.  Some  of  the 
most  interesting  audiences  faced  in  China  were 
those  of  the  Chinese  Christian  Church,  of  the 
Woman's  Bible  Institute  and  of  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary;  and  one  of  the  most 
surprising  exhibitions  of  the  character  of  New 
China  was  given  by  the  speeches  delivered  in 
English  by  the  members  of  the  University  de- 
bating team,  which  had  just  returned  victorious 
from  a  contest  in  Shanghai. 

These  worthy  institutions  deserve  further 
development;  but  it  appears  that  the  specific 
work  of  evangelism,  both  within  and  without 
the  city,  should  be  more  generously  supported 
and  more  widely  extended.  In  any  event,  few 
places  afford  better  opportunities  than  Nanking 
to  study  the  present  problems  and  progress  of 
Christian  Education  in  China. 

Peking  is  the  most  impressive  city  in  China 
and  one  of  the  most  romantic  cities  of  the 
world;  its  impressiveness,  however,  is  that  of 


CHINA  55 

faded  splendour,  its  romance  is  that  of  de- 
parted power.  The  city  is  a  veritable  monu- 
ment and  symbol  of  past  empire. 

Its  grandeur  dates  from  the  days  of  Kublai 
Khan  who  in  1264  made  it  his  magnificent 
capital,  and  from  this  centre  ruled  all  China. 
For  some  seven  centuries  successive  dynasties 
of  Mongols,  Mings  and  Manchus  maintained 
this  city  as  the  seat  of  the  Dragon  Throne,  and 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Republic  in  1910 
it  has  continued  to  be  the  centre  of  that  rather 
elusive  and  theoretical  entity  known  as  the 
"  Chinese  Government." 

Experts  in  political  economy  can  speak  more 
wisely;  but  to  an  inexperienced  traveller  in 
1922  the  nation  seemed  to  be  sadly  lacking  in 
political  unity.  Not  only  were  the  people  di- 
vided in  sympathy  between  the  "  North  "  and 
the  "  South,"  but  the  various  provinces  were 
controlled  by  military  "  governors,"  while  the 
civil  "governors,"  like  the  President  of  the 
Republic,  were  mere  official  puppets.  Each 
governor  maintained  his  position  by  forces  of 
soldiers,  and  when  out  of  power  he  and  his 
followers  played  the  polite  role  of  bandits. 
These  civil  "wars"  between  the  contending 
chieftains  were  comic  enough  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world,  but  sufficiently  tragic  in  the  minds 
of  the  poor  peasants  who  were  plundered  and 
pillaged    and    compelled    to    support    insolent 


56      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

marauders  masquerading  one  day  as  "ban- 
dits "  and  the  next  day  as  "  government 
forces." 

Two  of  these  military  governors,  in  the  early 
summer,  were  striving  for  the  mastery  of 
China.  These  were  Wu  Pei  Fu  and  Chang 
Tso  Lin.  The  descent  of  the  latter  from  his 
capital  in  Mukden,  for  a  time  blocked  the  road 
from  Shanghai  to  Peking;  but  after  a  really 
serious  and  decisive  battle  had  been  fought 
south  of  the  city,  it  proved  possible  to  find  a 
way  through  the  trains  of  soldiers  and  muni- 
tions and  to  reach  the  famous  capital. 

Peking  is  really  four  cities  in  one.  Its  heart 
is  the  "  Forbidden  City,"  shut  in  by  its  walls 
of  reddish-pink.  Around  this  lies  the  "  Im- 
perial City  "  guarded  by  walls  twenty  feet  in 
height.  Outside  this  lies  "  the  Tartar  City  " 
surrounded  by  its  famous  walls  which  are  forty 
feet  high  and  some  fourteen  miles  in  circum- 
ference. This  inclusive  Tartar  City,  which  by 
most  persons  is  regarded  as  "  Peking,"  is 
called  however  the  "  Inner  City,"  for  through 
its  southern  gates  one  enters  the  great 
"  Chinese  City,"  surrounded  by  walls  of  its 
own.  This  "  Outer  City  "  covers  a  vast  area. 
Part  of  it  is  crowded  with  shops ;  but  its  chief 
glory  is  the  great  Temple  of  Heaven. 

Perhaps  no  place  of  worship  in  the  world  so 
stirs  the  emotions  as  does  the  central  "  altar  " 


THE  CHENG- YAXG-MEN  GATE,  PEKING 

Connecting  the  Inner  or  "Tartar  City"  with  the  Outer  or 

"  Chinese  City  " 


CHINA  57 

of  this  temple.  The  walls  of  the  temple  are 
three  miles  in  circuit;  so  that  one  feels  that 
the  city,  with  its  throngs  and  its  tumult,  has 
been  left  far  behind  when  he  enters  the  solitude 
of  this  place  of  prayer.  When  at  last  he  ap- 
proaches the  "  altar,"  he  finds  no  shrine,  no 
temple,  no  roofed  structure,  but  a  simple 
"  triple  circular  marble  terrace,"  the  upper  sur- 
face of  which  is  paved  with  marble  blocks,  the 
central  one  being  in  the  form  of  a  perfect  cir- 
cle. Here,  with  no  image,  under  the  wide  and 
boundless  sky,  century  after  century  the  em- 
perors of  China  knelt  to  worship  the  one  su- 
preme God  of  Heaven. 

The  further  one  goes  back  in  history  the 
purer  is  the  conception  of  God  which  he  finds. 
Christianity  has  not  developed  out  of  the 
world  religions.  The  latter  are  a  corruption 
of  a  primitive  belief.  How  far  this  corruption 
has  progressed  was  intimated  by  a  visit  to  the 
Lama  Temple,  near  the  north  wall  of  the 
"  Inner  City,"  a  temple  which  is  known  as 
"  the  official  residence  of  a  living  Buddha." 
The  tile-roofed  buildings  are  picturesque,  the 
great  wooden  and  gilded  Buddhas  are  gro- 
tesque but  imposing;  however,  it  is  pathetic 
to  listen  to  the  senseless  mummery  of  the 
shaven  priests  and  to  see  the  incense  offered  by 
the  ignorant  worshippers,  and  to  remember 
how  many  millions  accept  as  their  religion  this 


58      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

corrupt  and  degrading  form  of  original  Bud- 
dhism. 

Another  striking  contrast  was  found  by 
visiting  the  stately  "  Confucian  Temple." 
Here  again  were  neither  altars  nor  images  nor 
idols.  The  great  sage  is  worthy  of  such  a 
memorial.  His  teachings  embody  a  truer 
morality  than  can  be  found  in  any  system  out- 
side the  Hebrew  Scriptures;  he  always  re- 
garded character  as  the  real  goal  of  education ; 
yet  he  never  dreamed  that  to-day  millions  of 
men  would  be  worshipping  him  as  a  God ;  how- 
ever he  was  never  able  to  point  men  to  the 
saving  power  of  the  true  God  who  later  re- 
vealed Himself  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  failure  of  Confucianism  is  written 
large  upon  the  face  of  modern  China.  It  was 
therefore  a  great  privilege,  as  a  favoured  guest 
of  Mr.  Gleysteen,  the  President  of  Truth  Hall, 
the  historic  Presbyterian  Boys'  Academy,  to 
be  given  some  insight  into  the  Christian  edu- 
cational institutions  which  have  been  estab- 
lished in  Peking,  and  which  are  making  this 
city  the  educational  centre  for  China. 

In  various  parts  of  the  city,  work  is  being 
done,  much  of  it  in  Union  enterprises,  by  Con- 
gregationalists,  Methodists,  Anglicans,  Presby- 
terians and  by  the  Princeton  University  Centre 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

The    superb    plant    of    the    Peking   Union 


CHINA  59 

Medical  College  (Rockefeller  Foundation)  is 
the  most  imposing  monument  of  the  sympa- 
thetic interest  felt  by  America  for  the  people 
of  China. 

However,  after  a  brief  survey  of  the  field, 
one  felt,  as  in  Nanking,  that  a  new  effort 
should  be  made  to  place  the  purely  evangelistic 
work  of  the  Christian  missions  on  the  same 
high  plane  of  efficiency,  and  to  man  it  as 
strongly,  as  the  superb  work  which  is  being 
done  in  the  sphere  of  Christian  education. 

Of  course  the  great  need  in  China  is  that 
of  trained  Christian  leaders.  Yet  she  must 
have  leaders  in  all  walks  of  life;  many  of  these 
must  be  found  outside  of  Christian  schools 
and  institutions  of  higher  learning.  Among 
the  most  famous  of  such  leaders  is  the  great 
"  Christian  General,"  Feng  Yu  Hsiang.  As  a 
young  soldier  he  witnessed  in  the  Boxer  upris- 
ing the  death  of  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hodge,  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simcox  and  of  Doctor  Taylor. 
He  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  demeanour  of 
these  martyrs.  Later  on  he  was  led  to  con- 
sider the  unselfish  work  of  the  missionary 
physicians  and  finally  in  an  evangelistic  meet- 
ing in  Peking  he  determined  to  begin  a  Chris- 
tian life,  and  joined  a  class  for  the  study  of 
the  Bible. 

Coming  from  a  very  humble  origin  he  has 
risen  to  be  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  men 


60      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

of  modern  China.  He  is  a  true  soldier.  The 
discipline  of  his  troops  is  perfect;  they  are 
allowed  neither  to  smoke  nor  to  gamble  nor 
to  swear.  They  all  observe  "  grace  before 
meals."    Nine-tenths  of  them  are  Christians. 

These  are  the  men  upon  whom  General  Wu 
relied  to  defeat  Chang  Tso  Lin.  Nothing 
could  withstand  their  attack;  and  when  the 
defeated  forces  of  Chang  tried  to  take  a  stand 
to  the  north  of  the  city,  Chang  saw  the  sol- 
diers of  General  Feng  again  pressing  upon  his 
right  flank  and  he  turned  in  flight,  withdrawing 
all  his  forces  beyond  the  Great  Wall. 

As  the  way  to  this  great  "  wonder  of  the 
world  "  was  opened,  a  day  was  spent  in  clam- 
bering over  its  vast  ramparts.  The  Great  Wall 
was  found  twisting  and  turning  and  climbing 
and  creeping  over  mountains  and  valleys  as 
far  in  either  direction  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
Again  one  realized  that  China  is  a  land  of 
walls.  Once  it  was  closed  to  the  Gospel  but 
now  the  doors  are  opened  wide  and  those  who 
will  may  enter. 

Returning  to  Peking  and  taking  a  last  view 
of  the  city,  seeing  its  temples  and  palaces  and 
imperial  mansions  with  their  yellow  tiles 
gleaming  among  the  groves  of  trees  with  which 
the  city  abounds,  one  was  again  impressed  with 
the  fact  that  Peking  is  indeed  an  imperial  city, 
it  is  the  capital  of  this  mighty  nation,  it  is  yet 


CHINA  61 

to  determine  the  destiny  of  four  hundred  mil- 
lion people.  Is  that  destiny  to  be  shaped  by  the 
influence  of  Confucius  or  by  the  power  of 
Christ? 


Ill 

KOREA 

IT  was  impossible  to  reach  Korea  by  the 
usual  route  through  Mukden,  for  the  con- 
tending Chinese  armies  had  more  im- 
portant uses  for  the  railroad  than  the  trans- 
portation of  American  travellers.  However, 
even  an  elementary  knowledge  of  geography 
gave  the  comforting  assurance  that  the  "  Land 
of  the  Morning  Calm  "  might  be  approached 
by  sea  in  spite  of  the  conflicts  among  the  sons 
of  Han. 

Some  of  our  American  countrymen  have 
trouble  in  locating  Korea;  their  difficulty  is 
much  like  that  of  the  man  who  told  his  pastor 
that  he  had  trouble  with  the  Book  of  Daniel. 
"  Why,  what  is  your  trouble  ?  "  he  was  asked. 
"  My  difficulty,"  he  replied,  "  is  to  find  it  in  the 
Bible." 

So  a  Missouri  postmaster  was  given  a  parcel- 
post  package  directed  to  "  Korea."  He 
searched  his  lists  in  vain,  to  find  the  rate,  and 
then  asked  politely,  "  In  what  part  of  Kansas 
is  Korea,  anyway  ?  " 

Some  of  us  remember  that  Korea  is  a  little 
peninsula  about  six  hundred  miles  in  length, 
appended  to  the  east  coast  of  Asia,  and  related 
62 


KOEEA  63 

to  it  somewhat  as  Florida  is  to  the  United 
States.  We  recall  that  politically  as  well  as 
geographically  it  has  hung  as  a  tempting  mor- 
sel between  China,  Russia  and  Japan,  and  that 
these  nations  ever  have  been  ready  to  devour 
each  other  to  secure  it,  until  finally  it  has  been 
swallowed  up  by  the  "  Island  Empire  "  which 
is  now  proposing  to  assimilate  it  into  her  body 
politic. 

What  has  further  tended  to  conceal  its  lo- 
cation has  been  the  revival  of  the  old  name 
"  Chosen,"  by  which  name  it  is  now  desig- 
nated as  a  Province  of  Japan.  Some  Ameri- 
cans are  feverishly  fearful  of  offending  Japan 
by  still  using  the  name  of  "  Korea,"  but  they 
need  not  be  so  timid.  The  Japanese  governor 
of  one  of  the  Provinces,  in  sending  me  a  gift, 
accompanied  the  gift  by  his  card  on  which  he 
had  written  his  address  in  "  Korea." 

The  elementary  knowledge  which  suggested 
the  plan  of  reaching  Korea  by  sea  proved  to 
be  shared  by  many  other  travellers,  so  that 
when  through  gracious  friends  in  Tientsin  an 
effort  was  made  to  secure  a  passage  to  Dairen 
or  Antung  or  Chemulpo  it  was  learned  that  all 
the  little  steamers  were  filled  and  many  names 
were  on  the  waiting  lists;  but  eventually  a 
berth  was  secured  on  a  Japanese  boat  bound  for 
Moji,  in  Japan,  from  whence  Korea  could  be 
reached  by  way  of  Shimonoseki  and  Fusan. 


64      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

For  two  days  we  steamed  across  the  gulf 
of  Pechili  along  the  north  coast  of  Shantung; 
a  fact  which  reflects  no  more  upon  the  size  of 
the  Shantung  peninsula  than  upon  the  slow- 
ness of  the  boat.  On  the  second  afternoon  the 
coast  of  China,  far  to  the  westward,  appeared 
to  sink  into  the  sea.  The  skies  were  blue,  the 
sunlight  was  dancing  over  the  waves  and  the 
scene  was  one  of  peculiar  peace  and  loveliness. 
Suddenly  at  five  o'clock  the  ship  changed  her 
course,  cut  a  complete  semicircle  and  put  back 
toward  the  west.  It  was  soon  whispered  about 
that  a  passenger  was  missing  from  the  first- 
class  cabin,  a  Japanese  woman,  the  mother  of 
two  little  children  who  were  accompanying  her 
home.  She  had  been  seen  on  deck  at  three 
o'clock;  now  she  was  nowhere  to  be  found, 
and  as  the  rails  were  high  it  was  concluded 
that  she  could  not  have  fallen  but  must  have 
leaped  into  the  sea.  Men  were  stationed  at 
the  bow,  and  three  high  up  on  the  mast,  but 
as  one  realized  how  much  time  must  have 
elapsed  since  the  tragedy  occurred,  and  as  one 
gazed  out  upon  that  vast  unbroken  expanse  of 
sea  and  sky,  the  search  for  one  little  human 
body  was  seemingly  hopeless. 

For  exactly  two  hours  the  course  was  held 
westward,  and  then  the  ship  again  put  about 
and  turned  her  bow  toward  the  east.  After 
only  a  few  minutes  had  passed  the  engine  bells 


KOEEA  65 

sounded,  the  ship  came  to  a  complete  stop,  and 
there,  as  we  peered  over  the  starboard  rail, 
only  a  hundred  yards  away,  could  be  seen 
plainly  a  dark  kimono  and  a  mass  of  black  hair 
rising  and  falling  with  the  waves.  To  have  so 
exactly  retraced  the  course,  to  have  succeeded 
in  such  a  search,  was  a  feat  of  navigation 
worthy  of  all  praise.  There  was  a  long  delay 
in  lowering  the  life-boat ;  the  sun  had  sunk  in 
splendour  behind  the  barren  hills  of  Shantung 
when  the  poor  little  dripping  body  was  drawn 
on  board.  The  sailors  acted  with  marked  ten- 
derness and  reverence  in  the  presence  of  the 
dead.  For  hours  the  surgeon  and  his  assist- 
ants were  reported  to  be  endeavouring  to  fan 
back  some  spark  of  life,  but  such  efforts  were 
of  course  futile. 

Before  midnight  just  before  the  door  of  the 
little  room  in  which  the  body  lay,  there  was 
placed  a  small  stand  and  upon  it  lighted  can- 
dles and  burning  incense,  and  a  glass  of  water 
and  a  lotus  flower,  and  a  bowl  of  rice,  pro- 
visions for  the  spirit  which  was  supposed  to 
be  hovering  near.  Through  the  night  a  stew- 
ard kept  constant  vigil,  and  in  the  morning  a 
small  coffin  was  built  and  in  it  was  placed  the 
body,  carefully  prepared  for  the  burial  which 
was  to  take  place  when  the  ship  reached  the 
Japanese  port. 

A  suicide  at  sea  is  not  a  rare  occurrence  but 


66      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

it  is  always  an  incident  of  deep  pathos  and 
tragedy,  particularly  when  it  involves  a  young 
mother  whose  children  are  weeping  at  their 
failure  to  find  her,  while  her  husband  is 
hastening  to  the  harbour  to  welcome  her  return 
home. 

These  tragedies  are  all  too  common  among 
the  Japanese;  but  what  drove  this  woman  to 
her  desperate  deed,  what  fear  or  remorse  or 
heart-break  ?  This  was  only  one  more  mystery 
of  the  sea;  yet  it  reminds  us  that  there  are 
distresses  too  painful  to  be  endured  by  those 
who  know  nothing  of  the  comfort  and  power 
of  Christ. 

Previous  impressions  of  Korea  had  been 
gained  from  books,  and  they  were  deepened 
by  the  first  glimpse  of  the  bleak  cliffs  and 
rocky,  barren  islands  of  the  southwestern 
coast.  The  picture  in  mind  was  a  land  of 
lonely,  desolate  mountains  inhabited  by  rude, 
ignorant  peasants,  writhing  under  the  iron  heel 
of  Japan.  Two  months  of  continuous  travel 
quite  altered  the  opinion.  Even  as  we  glided 
into  the  superb  harbour  of  Fusan,  on  a  lovely 
morning  in  May,  the  abundant  verdure  on  the 
round  hills  reminded  us  of  former  approaches 
to  the  Emerald  Isle. 

We  journeyed  from  southeast  to  northwest, 
and  from  southwest  to  northeast,  some  three 


KOKEA  67 

thousand  miles  by  rail  and  nearly  another 
thousand  by  Ford  cars.  We  spent  a  week  at 
a  time  in  quaint  cities  like  Taiku  and  Seoul  and 
Kwongju  and  Andong,  each  one  of  which  is 
encircled  by  an  amphitheatre  of  green  hills  and 
of  towering  mountains. 

We  rode  for  days  through  beautiful  valleys 
which  were  radiant  with  the  gold  of  ripe  bar- 
ley and  wheat,  and  great  patches  of  deep  green 
hemp,  and  we  looked  on  the  flooded  rice  fields 
which  mirrored  the  blue  and  the  white  of  the 
sky  and  the  drifting  clouds.  We  made  a  four 
days'  excursion  to  the  peaks  and  passes  and 
gorges  of  the  Diamond  Mountains,  once  re- 
garded as  the  wonder  of  Eastern  Asia,  now  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world. 
We  stayed  for  a  week  at  Wonsan,  with  its 
superb  harbour  and  encircling  hills  and  island- 
guarded  coast,  looking  eastward  over  the  Japan 
Sea ;  and  then  went  to  Sorai  Beach  on  the  west 
coast,  with  its  silver  sands,  and  its  rocky,  wind- 
swept bluff  rising  high  above  the  blue  tides  of 
the  Yellow  Sea.  Then  the  impression  deep- 
ened that  Korea  is  a  land  which  has  features 
of  rarest  charm. 

Of  course  your  friend  who  always  looks  on 
the  darker  side  tells  you  that  an  unfair  ad- 
vantage was  taken  by  visiting  Korea  in  May 
and  June  and  July,  and  that  one  could  judge 
better  by  looking  on  the  brown  hills,  and  sun- 


68      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

burned  fields  in  the  early  fall,  or  upon  the 
dreary  scenes  of  winter;  but  shall  not  every 
country  be  allowed  some  change  of  dress? 
Does  even  Southern  California  always  wear 
her  gay  garments?  Moreover,  wise  men  tell 
us  that  no  one  really  knows  the  Diamond 
Mountains  or  the  Northern  Highlands  of 
Korea  unless  he  has  seen  them  in  the  glory  of 
their  autumn  garb. 

Tourists  will  not  much  longer  be  content 
with  the  conventional  dining-car  "  Korean 
Tour,"  from  Fusan  to  the  Yalu,  as  they  rush 
from  Japan  to  China;  they  will  soon  insist 
upon  lingering  to  see  something  of  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  interesting  countries  of 
the  world. 

The  Korean  people  are  physically  strong  and 
stalwart,  they  are  gentle,  genial,  affable  and 
courteous  in  their  demeanour,  poetic  in  their 
forms  of  thought  and  expression,  usually  poor, 
ignorant  and  superstitious,  but  intelligent, 
thoughtful  and  capable  of  the  most  surprising 
and  rapid  mental  and  social  and  spiritual  de- 
velopments. 

In  the  past,  Korea  possessed  a  far  more 
advanced  and  complex  civilization  than  now, 
and  gave  to  Japan  many  of  her  most  valued 
arts,  as  for  example  the  manufacture  of  the 
beautiful  Satsuma  ware  and  the  other  grades 


KOEEA  69 

of  porcelain,  and  also  the  culture  and  manu- 
facture of  silks. 

At  present,  however,  the  Koreans  are  a  race 
of  farmers;  the  latest  statistics  show  that 
nearly  fifteen  out  of  their  seventeen  millions 
are  supported  by  agriculture,  while  less  than 
one  million  are  engaged  in  trade  and  transpor- 
tation. 

The  methods  of  farming  are  extremely  prim- 
itive. It  is  true  it  requires  no  little  skill  and 
ingenuity  to  irrigate  the  rice  fields  and  keep 
them  at  an  exact  water  level  and  to  prevent 
them  from  being  washed  away  by  storms ;  how- 
ever, the  Korean  uses  the  same  kind  of  plow, 
threshes  his  grain  with  the  same  light  flail  on 
the  hard  rock  "  floor,"  and  grinds  his  produce 
in  the  same  crude  mills  as  did  his  ancestors 
three  thousand  years  ago. 

Most  Koreans  live  in  mere  huts.  These  are 
built  with  mud  walls  and  thatched  with  rice 
straw,  and  when  grouped  together  look  like 
clusters  of  brown  mushrooms. 

All  Koreans  dress  in  white.  This  is  not  say- 
ing that  the  dress  remains  white.  However, 
the  miracle  is  that  those  immaculate  flowing 
robes  emerge  from  such  squalid  mud  huts  and 
that  they  retain  their  spotlessness  so  long  and 
under  such  adverse  conditions.  All  wear 
white,  and  at  all  times,  rich  and  poor,  young 
and  old,  scholars  at  their  books  and  plough- 


70      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

men  in  their  fields,  old  men  with  their  top- 
knots and  their  black  horsehair  hats,  and 
young  women  at  work  with  their  babes  on 
their  backs.  Of  course  one  must  except  the 
countless  children  who  scramble  through  the 
dirty  streets;  they  are  clothed  only  in  the  rich 
brown  of  the  Korean  skin. 

It  is  true  that  the  top-knot,  and  the  black 
horsehair  "fly-trap"  hat  which  surrounds  it, 
are  disappearing  from  the  cities  and  towns,  but 
they  are  found  everywhere  in  the  county,  and 
there  too  one  can  still  see,  in  the  fields,  the 
famous  tent-like  straw  hats  of  the  farmers. 
These  are  so  large  that  when  a  peasant  went 
out  to  cultivate  his  six  rice  fields,  after  finish- 
ing five  he  could  not  find  the  sixth  until,  as  he 
looked  around,  he  saw  his  hat  on  the  ground, 
and  lifting  it  he  found  his  lost  field — so  they 
say, — but  you  know  Korean  rice  fields  are 
small. 

Since  her  occupation  of  Korea,  Japan  has 
wrought  many  changes;  she  has  introduced 
railroads  and  telegraphs  and  telephones;  she 
has  improved  the  methods  of  education,  of 
agriculture,  of  arboriculture,  of  irrigation  and 
of  sanitation.  She  has  brought  real  and  abid- 
ing benefits  to  the  Korean  people.  Whether 
these  compensate  them  for  the  loss  of  their 
independence  is  a  question  as  to  which  no  one 


A  KOREAN  PEASANT 

"  The  Koreans  are  a  race  of  farmers;  fifteen  out  of  their  seventeen 

millions  are  supported  by  agriculture  " 


KOKEA  71 

would  feel  like  denying  the  Korean  a  right  to 
his  opinion. 

Surely  the  political  situation  in  the  country 
has  vastly  improved  within  even  the  last  few 
months.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  un- 
armed "Independence  Movement"  of  1919 
was  met  by  Japan  with  a  ruthless  cruelty  which 
for  a  time  lost  for  her  the  sympathy  of  all 
civilized  nations;  but  apparently  a  different 
regime  has  been  inaugurated.  The  prisons  are 
still  well  filled  with  political  offenders  who  are 
serving  long  sentences  for  the  hideous  offense 
of  having  cried  "  Mansei,"  or  for  having  been 
prominent  as  religious  leaders.  It  is  still 
proper,  when  meeting  a  distinguished  Korean, 
to  ask  him,  not  as  to  his  family  or  his  health, 
but  as  to  how  long  he  has  been  in  jail  ?  Even 
now,  justice  is  not  being  done  to  the  Koreans 
who  have  migrated  to  Manchuria,  and  even  yet 
minor  police  officials,  both  Japanese  and 
Korean,  are  occasionally  guilty  of  acts  which 
are  unjust,  irritating  or  intimidating;  but  these, 
when  reported  to  the  higher  officials,  are  re- 
buked. To  say  the  least,  a  reign  of  terror  no 
longer  exists,  and  the  Christian  Church  no 
longer  is  openly  opposed. 

Baron  Saito,  the  present  Governor  General, 
is  regarded  as  an  enlightened,  just  and  benevo- 
lent ruler.  Such  were  the  popular  reports, 
and,  as  the  guest  of  honour  at  a  dinner  gra- 


72      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

ciously  given  by  him  in  his  official  residence,  an 
opportunity  was  given  of  meeting  him  per- 
sonally, and  of  conversing  with  him  and  with 
certain  of  his  official  staff.  The  Baron  is  a 
genial  and  affable  gentleman,  kindly  and  demo- 
cratic in  his  demeanour.  He  understands 
English  among  other  languages.  During  the 
administration  of  President  Cleveland  he  spent 
considerable  time  in  Washington.  His  pur- 
poses are  to  extend,  in  Korea,  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  the  educational  system  and  the  ma- 
terial improvements  which  already  have  been 
far  advanced.  Such  officials  are  the  hope  of 
brighter  days  in  the  Far  East. 

The  Koreans  still  cherish  the  dream  of 
political  independence,  but  there  are  no  more 
serious  "  demonstrations,"  no  more  public 
shoutings  of  "  Mansei "  or  other  pernicious 
phrases.  The  supposed  right  of  "  self-determi- 
nation "  is  finding  other  no  less  objectionable 
forms  of  expression.  There  are  even  indica- 
tions that  some  Koreans  are  making  the  mis- 
take, common  among  other  peoples,  of  con- 
fusing liberty  with  license,  and  freedom  with 
anarchy.  This  is  suggested  by  the  present 
epidemic  of  "  strikes."  They  are  sufficiently 
foolish  and  frequent  to  satisfy  the  soul  of  a 
radical  American  labour  agitator.  Every  one 
strikes  in  the  Orient,  and  Korea  is  quite  abreast 
of  the  times. 


KOREA  73 

Schoolboys  strike  if  they  wish  a  better 
building  or  a  more  popular  teacher,  or  if  they 
suspect  that  they  are  not  in  absolute  control  of 
the  school. 

The  Pyengyang  papers  reported  that  a  strike 
had  been  declared  by  the  Guild  of  Dancing 
Girls,  a  society  of  young  ladies  whose  morals 
are  not  "above  suspicion";  they  had  struck 
because  some  pure-minded  citizen  had  over- 
thrown a  monument  they  had  erected  in  a 
public  place  to  the  memory  of  a  former  man- 
ager. They  made  the  dire  threat  to  remain  off 
duty  until  the  offender  should  be  apprehended 
and  punished. 

The  lepers  went  on  strike,  at  the  Taiku 
leprosarium,  and  threatened  to  "  leave  "  unless 
they  were  allowed  a  sum  of  money,  daily,  for 
tobacco.  Now,  no  matter  how  much  the  most 
tender-hearted  sympathizer  might  wish  to  give 
these  poor  outcasts  any  weed  which  would 
afford  them  consolation,  the  pathetic  humour 
of  the  situation  consists  in  the  fact  that  they 
are  being  supported  by  the  gifts  and  sacrifices 
of  persons  who  are  at  their  wit's  ends  to  pro- 
vide food  for  them,  and  if  any  one  of  these 
lepers  were  to  "  leave  "  he  would  have  no  place 
to  go,  and  fifty  others  would  be  fighting  for  the 
privilege  of  being  admitted  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
They  decided  to  remain. 

It  is  obvious  that  very  many  Koreans  need  to 


74      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

learn  the  lesson  that  true  freedom  is  liberty 
safeguarded  by  law. 

The  present  consuming  passion  of  the 
Koreans,  however,  is  for  education.  It  is  al- 
most unbelievable  to  see  the  facility  with  which 
they  absorb  and  assimilate  Western  learning 
and  customs,  and  the  eagerness  with  which 
they  crowd  into  government  and  mission 
schools  of  all  characters  and  grades. 

The  provision  for  education  is  pitifully  in- 
adequate; not  one  boy  or  girl  in  fifty  can  be 
given  the  opportunity  that  is  craved.  The 
most  painful  self-denial  will  be  practiced  by 
families  to  provide  education  for  a  son.  A 
hundred  applicants  will  pay  for  the  privilege 
of  trying  a  competitive  examination  for  en- 
trance to  a  school  even  when  they  know  that 
only  one  vacancy  is  to  be  filled. 

The  intellectual  ability  of  the  Korean  is 
astounding.  Out  of  little  mud  huts  emerge 
boys  and  girls  who  not  only  master  the  prac- 
tical arts  but  become  proficient  in  science,  in 
music,  in  history  and  philosophy,  and,  as  young 
men,  many  graduate  in  theology,  fully  equipped 
to  serve  as  pastors  in  Christian  churches. 

Korean  student  life  is  a  fascinating  study. 
It  has,  in  the  higher  academies,  all  the  out- 
ward expressions  of  student  life  in  America, 
baseball  teams,  glee  clubs,  bands,  debating  so- 


KOEEA  75 

cieties,    special   uniforms,   and   various   social 
organizations. 

It  is  in  the  sphere  of  education  that  the 
chief  disagreement  seems  to  exist  between  the 
Japanese  government  and  the  Christian  mis- 
sions in  Korea. 

The  Japanese  constitution  guarantees  relig- 
ious liberty  to  all  citizens  of  the  Empire ;  and  in 
accordance  with  this  provision,  recently  there 
has  been  extended  to  private  schools  in  Korea 
the  right  to  teach  religion.  However,  the 
schools  which  accept  this  right  to  teach  religion 
are  discriminated  against,  under  the  present 
law,  and  the  schools  which  do  not  teach  relig- 
ion are  given  a  "  recognition  "  and  privileges 
which  they  otherwise  could  not  enjoy. 

That  is,  the  graduates  of  any  mission  school 
which  teaches  Christianity  cannot  enter  any 
government  institution  of  the  next  higher 
grade  without  a  special  government  examina- 
tion, nor  is  the  diploma  of  such  a  school 
recognized.  Nor  can  a  graduate  of  such  a 
school  enter  even  the  Chosen  Christian  College 
without  a  government  examination,  even 
though  fully  accredited  by  the  Christian  school 
from  which  he  comes. 

In  order  to  avoid  these  disabilities  and  to 
enjoy  the  advantages  of  being  recognized  by 
the  Japanese  government,  some  mission 
schools  have  given  up  the  teaching  of  the  Bible 


76      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

or  religion.  They  do  such  teaching  "  out  of 
school  hours  "  and  "  not  as  schools  " ;  they  do 
what  they  receive  special  privileges  for  not 
doing.  They  believe  that  the  government  will 
continue  to  "  wink  at  the  irregularity,"  but  they 
are  aware  that  an  officer  could  at  any  time 
close  such  schools  for  actual  illegal  conduct. 

Such  an  evasion  of  law  constitutes  a  form  of 
apparent  immorality  which  only  the  most  skill- 
ful casuist  can  reconcile  with  the  teachings  of 
Christ. 

There  exist,  therefore,  several  classes  of 
schools  in  Korea,  and  their  status  and  relation 
can  be  understood  best  by  a  glance  at  the 
system  of  education  previously  existing  in 
Japan  but  this  year  extended  to  Korea. 

I.  Primary  School  Period  (from  six  years 
of  age),  covering  six  years. 

II.  Middle  School  Period,  covering  five 
years. 

III.  Higher  School  Period  (preparatory  to 
the  University),  covering  three  years. 

IV.  University,  period  of  four  years. 

V.  Post-Graduate  (special  study). 
These  periods  are  approximate;  the  second 

is  in  some  instances  shortened,  and  the  third 
lengthened. 

This  is  the  regular  government  system, 
which  exists  also  in  other  parts  of  the  Japanese 
Empire.     There  are  in  Korea  at  present  no 


KOEEA  77 

institutions  of  as  high  a  grade  as  the  Uni- 
versity (IV,  V)  ;  but  in  addition  to  the  gov- 
ernment institutions,  schools  of  the  three  lower 
grades  have  been  established  by  Christian  mis- 
sionary societies.  To  distinguish  them  from 
government  schools  they  are  classed  as 
"  private  schools."  Those  which  claim  to 
teach  no  religion  and  to  "have  no  religious 
exercises  of  any  kind  in  connection  with  their 
work,"  if  on  a  grade  with  the  government 
schools,  are  "  recognized  "  by  the  government, 
and  their  graduates  are  placed  on  the  same 
status,  and  have  the  same  opportunities  for 
securing  desirable  positions,  as  have  the  gradu- 
ates of  government  schools. 

Whether  "  recognized  "  as  teaching  no  re- 
ligion, or  not  "  recognized  "  because  teaching 
religion,  all  these  schools  must  be  "  registered  " 
with  the  government.  To  be  so  registered 
they  each  must  submit  a  petition  giving  a  state- 
ment as  to  resources,  constituency,  buildings, 
qualifications  of  teachers,  and  courses  of  study. 
According  to  the  new  law,  of  April,  1922, 
every  primary  school  must  have  an  endowment 
of  $15,000;  every  middle  school  must  have  an 
endowment  of  $200,000  or  an  income  of  $14,- 
000;  every  higher  school  (preparatory  to  the 
University)  an  endowment  of  $300,000,  every 
University  an  endowment  of  $500,000. 

At  present,  the  majority  of  Mission  schools 


78      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

are  registered  under  previously  existing  ordi- 
nances; they  cannot  be  "  recognized,"  nor  re- 
registered, unless  they  meet  these  new  regula- 
tions of  the  Japanese  government. 

The  government  recently  agreed  to  allow  the 
Chosen  Christian  College,  a  missionary  institu- 
tion of  the  Higher  School  grade,  ("  University 
preparatory")  to  teach  religion  and  still  be 
"  recognized,"  but  the  graduates  are  not  al- 
lowed to  enter  a  University,  nor  can  the 
graduates  of  a  school,  which  teaches  the  Bible 
as  a  part  of  its  course,  enter  this  "  college  " 
without  a  special  examination  given  by  the 
government.  The  grade  of  this  Institution 
(Higher  School)  is  above  that  of  an  American 
High  School  and  includes  many  "  college " 
courses;  however,  should  the  institution  ad- 
vance to  the  grade  of  a  University,  it  would  be 
required  to  forfeit  its  right  to  teach  religion. 
The  government  now  lists  it  merely  as  a 
"  special  school." 

This  penalizing  of  institutions  on  the  ground 
that  they  teach  Christianity  is  obviously  con- 
trary to  the  liberties  guaranteed  by  the  Japanese 
Constitution,  and  certain  high  officials,  while 
making  no  promises,  express  hope  that  relief 
may  soon  be  given.  This  probably  may  be 
found  along  the  line  of  an  arrangement  which 
has  long  existed  in  Japan  proper.  Here  there 
are  a  number  of  "  registered  "  private  schools, 


KOEEA  79 

"  approved  "  by  the  government  as  of  equal 
grade  with  the  government  schools,  as  for  ex- 
ample the  Meji  Gakuin  in  Tokyo,  the  Kwansei 
Gakuin  in  Kobe,  the  Doshisha  in  Kyoto. 

The  missions  in  Korea  are  advised  to  con- 
tinue their  efforts  to  bring  their  schools  to  the 
level  of  the  regular  government  schools,  in 
their  equipment  and  teaching  force,  with  the 
hope  that  in  Korea  such  a  class  of  "  approved  " 
schools  may  be  recognized  by  the  government. 

At  least  from  the  view-point  of  the  Korean, 
there  are  two  vital  defects  in  the  system  of 
education  imposed  by  Japan.  First  the  course 
of  study  of  every  school  is  selected  and  rigidly 
enforced  by  the  government.  No  persons  are 
allowed  to  establish  and  conduct,  even  at  their 
own  expense,  schools  in  which  any  courses 
whatever  are  taught,  however  admirable,  in 
case  these  courses  are  not  those  prescribed  by 
the  government,  and  this,  too,  in  communities 
where  the  government  has  made  no  provision 
for  education. 

Secondly  the  Koreans  are  distressed  by  the 
requirement  that  all  instruction  in  the  schools 
of  Korea  must  be  given  in  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage. They  declare  that  this  places  a  need- 
less barrier  in  the  way  of  educating  their  chil- 
dren, that  it  opens  before  these  children  only 
the  literature  of  Japan,  while  giving  them  no 
real  Korean  culture,  and  that  it  is  the  expres- 


80      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

sion  of  a  hopeless  endeavour  to  obliterate  all 
distinction  between  Koreans  and  Japanese.  It 
would  seem  that  some  radical  modification  of 
so  exasperating  a  regulation  would  make  for 
the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  land. 

Korea  is  a  land  without  a  religion.  This 
statement  has  been  contradicted  by  far  wiser 
men;  but  they  wrote  yesterday;  this  book  is 
written  for  to-day;  its  words  may  not  be  true 
to-morrow;  but  why  borrow  trouble?  The 
fact  then  is  this,  the  Koreans,  as  a  people,  have 
nothing  that  corresponds  to  any  of  the  great 
religions  of  the  world.  They  once  were 
Buddhists;  they  received  this  religion  from 
India,  and  gave  it  to  Japan,  but  they  have  kept 
none  of  it  for  themselves.  Now  Japan  is  try- 
ing to  repay  the  debt.  At  great  expense  she  is 
trying  to  restore  Buddhism  to  Korea.  The 
new  shrines  are  decorative ;  the  fresh  paint  on 
the  old  buildings  is  sometimes  an  improvement ; 
but  the  reestablishment  of  the  religion  is  hope- 
less. Buddhism  in  Korea  has  been  discredited 
too  thoroughly ;  it  too  long  has  been  dead. 

Mrs.  Bishop,  and  even  later  writers,  en- 
couraged us  to  believe  that  if  we  went  far 
enough  into  the  mountains  we  would  find  mon- 
asteries and  temples  filled  with  Buddhist  priests 
and  nuns.  We  went  into  the  wild  mountain 
fastnesses  of  the  southwest  and  northeast.    We 


KOEEA  81 

here  and  there  found  a  beautiful  old  shrine, 
and  usually  a  sleepy  priest  who  would  solemnly 
unlock  the  dusty  prison  of  his  gilded  god;  but 
worshippers  there  were  none. 

We  made  a  memorable  visit  to  the  Diamond 
Mountains,  where  the  best  Buddhist  relics  re- 
main. At  Choanji  we  lived  in  a  building  of 
one  of  the  most  famous  of  these  monasteries 
which  dates  from  the  days  of  Mohammed. 
The  building  had  been  converted  into  a  most 
comfortable  little  Japanese  inn.  The  mon- 
astery was  situated  far  up  in  a  narrow  valley, 
down  which  a  noble  mountain  torrent  was  roar- 
ing. On  three  sides  were  steep  slopes  covered 
with  spruce  and  pine.  We  were  conducted 
through  the  silent  buildings  by  a  monk, 
shaven-headed,  mild-mannered,  clad  in  a  dirty, 
padded  robe  which  was  patched  like  a  "  crazy- 
quilt." 

That  night  we  slept  soundly;  we  had  come 
ninety  miles  in  a  Ford  car ;  but  at  four  we  were 
awakened  by  the  patched  priest  who  was  knock- 
ing on  a  hollow  piece  of  wood  and  intoning 
sleepily  a  "  call  to  prayer."  Then  he  pounded 
with  considerable  vigour  on  a  brass  bell.  It 
was  all  quite  interesting;  but  none  of  the  other 
five  priests  preferred  prayer  to  slumber;  neither 
did  we,  at  the  time;  and  soon  all  was  silent 
save  the  music  of  the  stream.  However,  at  the 
same  hour  the  next  night,  the  performance  was 


82      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

repeated ;  then  it  seemed  to  be  an  interruption. 
The  third  night  the  same  thing  occurred;  then 
it  seemed  to  be  an  insult.  We  decided  to  re- 
nounce Buddhism  for  ever ; — so  has  Korea. 

Then  there  is  Confucianism.  Well,  at  its 
best,  that  was  never  intended  to  be  a  religion. 
Confucius  never  dreamed  that  any  one  would 
worship  him; — no  one  should.  His  name  is 
known  and  honoured  among  all  Koreans,  but 
as  a  philosopher,  and  as  the  author  of  rules  of 
conduct.  He  has  given  to  Korea  its  forms 
and  ceremonies  for  social  life,  but  not  a  re- 
ligion. 

The  nearest  approach  to  religion  is  in  the 
practice  of  "  ancestor  worship."  Some  Ko- 
reans still  observe  its  forms.  One  man  visited 
the  grave  of  his  father  every  day  for  twenty- 
six  years.  He  bowed  his  head  to  the  same  spot, 
until  his  hands  and  forehead  had  worn  hollows 
in  the  solid  rock.  However,  when  we  visited 
the  scene,  the  weeds  and  undergrowth  were 
covering  the  place  and  his  piety  was  becoming 
a  tradition.  So  is  ancestor  worship,  in  Korea. 
You  can  find  shrines  in  most  of  the  door-yards 
of  the  wealthy,  but  as  far  as  real  religious 
sentiments  are  concerned,  they  are  about  on  a 
level  with  those  which  stir  the  noble  breasts  of 
the  members  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati 
or  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

Of  course  the  dread  of  spirits  remains;  but 


KOEEA  83 

"  animism  "  is  fast  becoming  only  an  interest- 
ing study  for  the  antiquarian.  We  had  read 
much  about  the  "  devil  posts  "  which  stood  "  at 
the  entrance  to  every  village  "  and  "  on  top  of 
every  high  hill " ;  but  for  two  months  we 
hunted  for  a  "  devil  post " ;  we  travelled  thou- 
sands of  miles,  but  all  in  vain.  We  always 
found  some  one  who  had  seen  one;  we  could 
buy  some  imitations  for  souvenirs;  but  we 
could  find  no  posts. 

"  Spirit  trees  "  were  about  as  rare.  We  did 
see  one  with  its  paper  prayers  pinned  to  the 
branches  and  its  heap  of  stones  near  the  trunk : 
but  as  for  any  external  signs  of  worship  or  of 
religion  in  Korea,  they  are  now  extremely  hard 
to  find. 

"  Every  house  has  its  spirit-jar,"  so  we  were 
told  and  such  may  be  true;  but  the  old  men 
smile  as  you  ask  about  them,  and  the  young 
men  laugh,  and  the  wise  observer  says  that 
"  probably  no  man  under  forty-five  years  of 
age  believes  in  spirits  to-day." 

Soothsayers  and  sorceresses  are  still  to  be 
found,  but  the  latter  are  sought,  rather  for 
their  aid  in  times  of  sickness,  not  to  lead  in 
worship.  Their  medicinal  prescriptions  are 
still  valued ;  but  their  influence  is  fast  waning 
before  the  advance  of  Western  science. 

It  is  just  this  lack  of  real  religion  in  Korea 
that  constitutes  the  call  and  the  opportunity  of 


84      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

the  Christian  Church.  Intemperance  and  im- 
morality are  everywhere  on  the  increase. 
Strange  new  modern  cults  are  being  pushed. 

The  absorbing  interests  of  a  new  material 
civilization  are  crowding  upon  the  awakened 
minds  of  the  people.  They  need  the  stabi- 
lizing and  saving  influence  of  the  Christian 
Gospel.     It  is  the  one  hope  for  the  land. 

The  history  of  Christian  missions  contains 
no  romance  of  greater  interest  than  that  which 
has  been  written  by  the  annals  of  the  Korean 
Church.  Since  an  entrance  was  found,  by  the 
coming  of  a  Christian  physician  to  the  Korean 
court  in  1884,  the  progress  of  Christianity  has 
been  continuous  and  surprising,  and  the  figures 
given  last  year,  1921,  by  the  Federal  Council 
of  Protestant  Churches  in  Korea,  are  as  fol- 
lows: 


Churches  and  Groups, 
Church  Buildings, 
Communicants, 
Catechumens, 
Baptized  Children, 
Total  Adherents, 


3,338 

2,996 

91,818 

35,225 

19,679 

241,328 


In  some  parts  of  the  country  the  intelligent 
acceptance  of  the  Christian  faith  has  been  so 
eager  that  the  prophecy  has  frequently  been 
ventured  that  Korea  will  be  the  first  land  of 
the  Orient  to  become  converted  to  Christ.     It 


KOEEA  85 

was  a  great  pleasure  to  visit  the  city  of 
Syenchun,  far  in  the  north,  to  face  one  of  the 
audiences  which  regularly  gather  in  its  great 
churches,  and  to  learn  that  this  is  probably  the 
"  most  Christian  city  of  the  world,"  as,  on  any 
Sunday,  more  than  three  thousand  of  its  six 
thousand  residents  can  be  found  in  churches. 

It  was  also  a  thrilling  experience  to  address 
the  vast  audiences  in  Pyengyang  and  to  go  out 
into  the  surrounding  country  and  be  given  an 
insight  into  the  work  of  the  churches  which  are 
grouped  around  each  evangelizing  centre.  The 
picture  of  these  Korean  audiences  can  never  be 
effaced  from  memory.  On  one  side  of  each 
church  the  men  and  on  the  other  the  women, 
all  clothed  in  spotless  white,  all  seated  on  the 
floor  and  crowded  into  spaces  incredibly  small 
for  the  number  of  auditors;  in  front  of  the 
women  the  girls,  and  in  front  of  the  men  the 
boys,  clustered  around  the  feet  of  the  speaker. 
The  church  buildings  are  spacious,  but  utterly 
lacking  in  artistic  beauty;  however,  the  best 
adornment  for  any  such  structure  are  the  eager 
congregations  which  throng  them  to  the  doors, 
three  or  more  times  on  a  single  day. 

No  one  reason  can  account  for  the  unique 
success  of  mission  work  in  this  "  Land  of  the 
Morning  Calm  " ;  but  among  the  factors  may 
be  mentioned  the  simple  and  wise  methods 
which  have  been  employed,  and  the  emphasis 


86      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

which  has  continually  been  placed  upon  self- 
support,  Bible  study,  and  personal  evangelism. 
In  China,  it  is  commonly  said,  the  converts  to 
Christianity  give  less  to  the  church  than  they 
previously  gave  to  idolatry ;  but,  in  Korea,  more 
is  given  relatively  for  Christian  work  than  in 
America.  The  Koreans  have  their  own  mis- 
sionaries working  in  Ouelparte  Island,  and  in 
China,  and  a  large  region  has  been  allotted  in 
Shantung  for  their  special  occupation.  Yet 
the  Korean  Christians  are  pitifully  poor.  It  is 
well  said  that  they  are  true  "  rice  Christians  "; 
for  at  times  they  take  the  rice  they  need  for 
food  and  sell  it  in  order  to  advance  Christian 
work. 

They  are  eager  students  of  the  Bible.  It  is 
interesting  to  ask  an  ordinary  audience  to  an- 
swer questions  about  Bible  topics  and  to  notice 
the  accuracy  and  promptness  of  their  replies. 
Down  at  the  leper  colony  at  Kwangju  before 
the  address  in  the  crowded  chapel,  a  series  of 
such  questions  was  proposed,  and  it  is  far 
within  the  truth  to  assert  that  no  university 
gathering  in  America  could  have  made  such 
accurate  and  confident  and  joyful  replies.  At 
many  Christian  centres,  "  Bible  Institutes  "  are 
held  annually,  at  one  season  for  men,  at  an- 
other for  women,  and,  in  order  to  be  present, 
these  Korean  peasants  will  walk  for  miles  over 
mountains    and   valleys,    carrying   with   them 


KOEEA  87 

their  bags  of  rice,  for  food,  and  then  remain 
for  periods  of  four  or  six  weeks,  sleeping  in 
incredibly  cramped  quarters,  and  cooking  their 
own  food,  in  order  to  receive  instruction  in 
the  Bible. 

While  at  the  Institute  at  Taiku,  a  young 
Korean  woman  was  heard  reciting  upon  the 
structure  and  furniture  of  the  Tabernacle,  with 
a  fluency  and  an  assurance  which  would  have 
startled  an  American  student  of  theology,  as  it 
did  an  American  professor. 

Sunday  School  methods  also  have  been 
wisely  adopted  and  adapted.  In  all  the  large 
centres,  like  Seoul  or  Pyengyang,  in  fact  quite 
universally  through  the  land,  the  churches  are 
filled  successively,  on  Sunday  morning,  by 
crowds  of  children,  then  of  women,  then  of 
men,  all  engaged  in  studying  the  Bible. 

An  admirable  system  has  been  adopted  at 
Kwangju.  Here  the  churches  are  united  in  a 
Sunday  School  Association  and,  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  the  city,  twenty-two  schools, 
with  twenty-five  hundred  scholars  enrolled,  are 
in  session  every  Sunday  morning.  These 
schools  rapidly  develop  into  churches.  One 
such  "  heathen  Sunday  School  "  was  visited. 
It  had  been  established  three  miles  from  the 
city,  by  a  faithful  worker,  who  had  found  a 
native  village  with  no  "  Believers,"  no  knowl- 
edge of  God  or  of  morality;  and  there,  after  a 


83      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

few  weeks  of  her  effort,  we  saw  two  houses 
crowded,  one  with  women  and  children,  one 
with  men;  and  there  Christian  hymns  were 
being  sung  and  the  Christian  Scriptures  were 
being  taught.  The  whole  life  of  the  village 
had  been  changed  already  and  there,  before 
long,  will  be  established  a  Christian  church. 

The  evangelistic  zeal  of  the  Koreans  has 
been  equally  characteristic.  Men  and  women 
will  pledge  in  advance  so  many  "  days  "  a  year 
and  will  then  employ  these  days  in  house  to 
house  visitation  in  the  towns  in  which  they 
reside,  speaking  with  others  about  the  Christian 
faith. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  these 
Korean  believers  are  faultless,  or  that  they 
make  any  claims  of  sinless  perfection.  In  fact 
it  was  almost  a  relief  to  discover  how  really 
human  they  are,  and  how  even  the  church  life 
is  not  quite  free  from  occasional  dissensions. 
However,  taken  all  in  all,  the  body  of  Christian 
believers  in  Korea  is  not  only  the  largest  in 
proportion  to  the  population,  but  the  most  alert, 
independent  and  energetic  of  that  to  be  found 
on  any  mission  field  in  the  world. 

The  growth  of  the  Church  has  been  continu- 
ous during  all  the  nearly  forty  years  of  its  ex- 
istence; but  this  growth  has  not  been  uniform. 
It  was  checked  by  the  Japanese  occupation  of 
the  country,  by  the  persecution  of  1910,  and  by 


KOEEA  89 

the  Independence  Movement  in  1919.  How- 
ever, the  government  interference  has  always 
reacted  favourably.  The  Korean  people  re- 
spect the  Japanese  and  live  with  them  in  perfect 
friendliness ;  but  they  have  no  love  for  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  suspicion  that  the  government 
was  opposed  to  the  Church  made  the  Church 
immensely  popular. 

At  present  it  is  generally  understood  that  the 
government  is  maintaining  religious  liberty,  ex- 
cept in  the  matter  of  education,  and  its  attitude 
is  increasingly  a  negative  factor  in  actual 
church  life;  nor  is  there  in  Korea  any  such 
popular  antagonism  to  Christianity  as  is  mani- 
fested in  certain  other  parts  of  the  Far  East. 
Of  course  occasionally  a  man,  or  more  com- 
monly a  woman,  is  made  to  suffer  severe 
persecution  by  members  of  the  family  because 
in  becoming  a  "  Believer  "  it  is  necessary  to 
break  away  from  certain  customs  and  practices 
associated  with  ancient  heathen  belief. 

The  Koreans,  now,  are  peculiarly  open  to 
the  gospel  message  and  ready  to  listen  to  the 
messenger.  During  many  weeks  it  was  a 
great  privilege  to  be  the  constant  companion  of 
an  own  brother  who  has  resided  in  Korea  for 
sixteen  years  and  speaks  the  language  with  re- 
markable fluency.  He  served  as  guide  and  in- 
terpreter and  instructor.  In  village  after  vil- 
lage as  we  stopped  by  the  way,   as  curious 


90      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

crowds  gathered  around  us,  they  were  always 
most  respectful  as  they  listened  to  anything 
said  to  them,  ready  to  accept  tracts  and  leaflets 
and  prompt  to  answer  any  questions  relating  to 
religion  or  their  beliefs  in  spirits  or  their  cus- 
toms or  superstitions. 

It  was  also  possible  for  us  to  gain  a  fair 
impression  of  Korean  character.  Instead  of 
finding  the  people  unrestrained  and  quarrel- 
some, as  some  have  reported,  they  appeared 
in  various  street  scenes  and  under  certain  se- 
vere provocations,  to  possess  great  self-control 
and  kindliness  of  spirit.  When  deeply  affected, 
however,  their  fondness  for  speech  was  mani- 
fested, and  the  torrent  of  words  which  flowed 
forth  was  amusing  and  astounding. 

In  view  of  such  favouring  conditions,  and  in 
face  of  the  opportunities  which  are  fleeting,  it 
was  distressing  to  find  an  appalling  lack  of 
workers.  Practically  every  mission  station 
was  undermanned  and  its  workers  were  over- 
burdened. This  was  not  because  of  any  un- 
wise ambition  on  the  part  of  the  evangelistic 
force  which  led  them  to  undertake  excessive 
tasks,  but  because  of  the  recent  depletion  in  the 
force.  Men  have  been  taken  from  the  field  to 
do  necessary  work  in  educational  institutions 
which  even  with  this  help  are  not  fully  sup- 
plied with  teachers.  In  addition,  there  are  the 
cases  of  death,  of  sickness  and  of  resignation, 


KOEEA  91 

so  that  the  evangelistic  force  at  present  is  less 
efficient  than  it  was  twelve  years  ago.  A  large 
number  of  new  men  are  not  needed,  nor  will 
large  numbers  be  needed  in  years  to  come.  If 
rightly  directed  now  the  Church  of  Korea 
would  soon  be  able  to  evangelize  the  land. 
However,  there  is  imperative  and  critical  need 
of  some  twenty  new  workers  at  once.  In 
Korea  is  the  place  where  the  battle  line  of 
heathenism  has  begun  to  break.  If  the 
Christians  of  America  were  really  aware  of 
the  actual  situation,  it  seems  certain  they  would 
immediately  throw  in  such  reinforcements  as 
to  ensure  a  speedy  victory,  which  would  bring 
influences  of  light  and  life  to  all  the  peoples  of 
the  Far  East. 


IV 

JAPAN 

THIS  was  my  third  visit  to  Japan,  a 
fact  which  is  of  not  the  slightest  in- 
terest to  the  American  public,  but  is 
published  for  the  benefit  of  friends  who  travel 
as  a  profession  and  who  love  to  list  and  post 
the  number  of  their  Pacific  voyages.  I  had 
crossed  the  Pacific  but  once ;  however,  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  Japan  before  sailing  for  China, 
and  another  after  my  return  from  China,  and 
another  before  crossing  to  Korea,  and  another 
after  my  two  months'  stay  in  Korea,  and  an- 
other before  my  departure  for  home.  This 
form  of  statement  is  designed  to  impress  my 
readers  and  to  prepare  them  for  the  claim  that 
the  word  Japan  had  ceased  to  connote  a  mere 
confused  blur  of  kimonos  and  rice  fields,  and 
cherry-blossoms,  and  jinrikishas,  and  Bud- 
dhas,  and  pine  trees,  and  moonlit  lakes. 

I  had  come  to  distinguish,  with  some  degree 
of  assurance,  between  obi  and  torii,  between 
daimyos  and  dynamos,  between  ohaio  ("good 
morning")  and  oyu  ("hot  water"),  between 
yen  and  sen,  between  Hideyoshi  and  Ieyasu, 
92 


JAPAN  93 

and  even  to  detect  a  difference  between  police- 
men and  reporters,  between  shopkeepers  and 
swindlers.  This  dent  in  my  vast  ignorance  of 
things  Japanese  was  due  in  large  measure  to 
delightful  zigzag  journeys  with  my  brother  and 
his  wife.  She  was  born  in  Japan,  and  her 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  their  faithful 
but  rather  futile  efforts  to  make  me  understand 
what  I  heard  and  saw,  raised  me  nearly  to  the 
intellectual  level  of  a  guide-book  graduate. 

We  journeyed  from  Shimonoseki  to  Sendai, 
from  Kyushu  to  Karuizawa.  We  saw  the 
summer  sun  sink  behind  the  purple  islands  of 
the  Inland  Sea.  We  spent  a  Sunday  at  Miya- 
jima,  and  saw  its  shrines  float  on  the  surface 
of  the  flood  tide,  and  watched  the  people  wor- 
shipping the  Shinto  goddesses  and  feeding  oats 
to  the  sacred  horse.  At  Kyoto  we  visited  the 
temples  and  walked  over  acres  of  polished 
floors,  and  reviewed  regiments  of  dusty,  gilded 
gods,  of  which  there  were  "  thirty-three  thou- 
sand "  under  a  single  roof;  and,  at  night,  in  the 
glare  of  electric  lights,  among  crowds  of  ex- 
cited, and  intoxicated,  and  shouting  worship- 
pers, we  saw  hundreds  of  men,  nearly  naked, 
staggering  under  the  "  floats,"  which  carried 
the  sacred  furniture,  and  other  objects  of  ado- 
ration from  the  temples,  as  they  were  borne  in 
the  great  procession,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
annual  Shinto  festival  in  July.     We  went  to 


94      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

Nara  to  visit  the  temple  parks,  with  their 
countless  stone  lanterns  and  sacred  deer,  and  to 
pound  its  bell,  and  to  gape  at  its  colossal  Bud- 
dha. At  Hakone  we  saw  Fuji,  the  worshipped 
mountain,  arrayed  by  the  "  rosy-fingered 
dawn  "  in  purple  and  scarlet  and  white,  and 
mirrored  on  the  surface  of  the  silent  lake.  We 
passed  through  the  dust  and  the  shops  and  the 
crowded  streets,  and  under  the  shadow  of  tow- 
ering modern  structures  and  among  the  miles 
of  miniature  houses  and  great  parks  of  Tokyo, 
the  largest,  but  one  of  the  least  impressive 
cities  of  Asia.  We  learned  how  to  use  the 
word  "  magnificent "  at  Nikko,  and  cautiously 
walked  around  its  sacred  red  bridge,  and 
crossed  its  rushing  stream,  and  photographed 
the  moveless  monkeys  and  the  sacred  cat,  and 
marvelled  at  the  beauty  and  splendour  of  the 
shrines,  and  toiled  up  the  endless  steps  of  stone, 
under  the  shade  of  the  towering  cryptomerias, 
to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  at  the  tombs  of  the 
great  Shoguns.  We  joined  the  stream  of  pil- 
grims and  toiled  up  the  sacred  steeps,  past  the 
beautiful  waterfalls,  to  see  the  sacred  mountain 
reflected  on  the  surface  of  charming  Lake 
Chuzenji.  We  penetrated  the  twenty-six  tun- 
nels and  scaled  the  high  passes  to  reach  Karu- 
izawa,  a  place  nearer  heaven  (by  twelve  hun- 
dred feet)  than  any  we  had  visited,  and  here  ad- 
dressed large  audiences  of  patient  missionaries, 


THE  YOMEI-MON  AT  NIKKO 
An  exquisite  gateway  leading  to  the  mausoleum  of  Ieyasu 


JAPAN  95 

each  day,  during  two  happy  weeks.  We  even 
pursued  auditors  who  had  fled  to  the  new  sum- 
mer resort,  across  the  mountains  at  Nojiri; 
and  later  visited  those  who  were  seeking  rest  at 
Takagama  Beach  in  the  famous  region  of  Mat- 
sushima.  There  we  plunged  into  the  cool  surf 
of  the  Pacific;  and  then,  after  meeting  the 
notable  Bible  Class  of  my  friend,  Professor 
Kajiwara,  at  Sendai,  left  for  Yokohama  and 
for  home. 

Such  journeyings,  under  such  tuition,  to- 
gether with  extensive  research,  profound  inves- 
tigations, acute  questioning,  mature  reflection, 
and  other  strenuous  mental  processes,  con- 
vinced one  of  the  truthfulness  and  accuracy  of 
all  the  conflicting  and  irreconcilable  reports 
which  have  reached  the  Western  world  rela- 
tive to  "  mysterious  Japan."  At  least,  one 
could  agree  with  those  who  admire  the 
courtesy,  the  cleverness,  and  the  unfailing 
self-confidence  of  the  Japanese.  One  could 
see  that  these  people  are  devoted  lovers 
of  beauty,  and  that  their  land  is  one  of  exquis- 
ite charm,  the  truest  paradise  in  the  world  for 
tourists,  and  for  men  who  wish  to  write  books. 
Nor  could  one  help  wondering  at  the  incredible 
rapidity  with  which  the  nation  has  adopted  and 
adapted  all  the  arts  and  inventions  of  modern 
civilization ;  this  would  be  particularly  apparent 
to  one  who  stops  at  the  "  Imperial  Hotel,"  who 


96      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

travels  "  first-class  "  on  the  "  sleeping  "  and 
"  dining  cars,"  and  glides  over  the  mountain 
passes  in  a  "  Hudson  super-six  " ;  a  slightly 
altered  impression  has  been  registered  by  some 
who  have  carried  packs  along  the  dusty  roads 
and  stopped  among  the  peasants  of  the  inland 
districts. 

No  one  could  fail  to  rejoice  that  the  spirit 
of  militarism  in  Japan  is  being  restrained, 
that  there  is  a  definitely  improved  international 
outlook,  and  that  the  papers  print  fewer  pro- 
posals for  the  conquest  of  the  world.  No  one 
could  fail  to  observe,  even  among  a  people  so 
recently  awakened  by  Western  thought  and  so 
mentally  alert,  a  present  renaissance  of  intel- 
lectual life,  a  rising  passion  for  education,  and 
a  sincere  desire  to  reach  ultimate  truth. 

However,  no  one  who  is  a  true  friend  of 
Japan,  no  one  who,  at  the  same  time,  has  read 
the  government  statistics  and  has  listened  to 
the  story  of  those  who  have  the  welfare  of 
Japan  most  on  their  hearts,  can  fail  to  be  ap- 
palled at  the  sight  of  a  land  so  near  to  spiritual 
and  moral  bankruptcy.  Japan  has  long  loved 
beauty,  she  has  begun  to  seek  for  truth ;  when 
will  she  learn  to  love  purity  and  virtue,  and 
holiness  and  God?  The  great  masses  of  the 
people  of  Japan  are  still  under  the  dominance 
of  degrading  forms  of  heathenism.  Forty-six, 
out  of  fifty-six  millions,  are  officially  classed  as 


JAPAN  97 

Buddhists.  None  of  the  fourteen  sects  in  Ja- 
pan teaches  the  true  tenets  of  Buddhism,  but 
all  unite  in  filling  the  minds  of  the  common 
people  with  absurd  superstitions,  and  in  requir- 
ing the  rites  of  an  ignorant  idolatry.  One  will 
see  more  outward  manifestations  of  heathen- 
ism on  a  journey  of  a  single  day  in  Japan  than 
by  a  residence  of  two  months  in  Korea. 

However,  Buddhism  is  fast  losing  its  hold. 
It  is  a  dishonest  religion,  in  which  the  priests 
teach  the  people  beliefs  the  very  opposite  from 
those  which  they  themselves  hold.  It  cannot 
stand  the  light  of  investigation.  Nor  can  it 
meet  the  tests  of  modern  science  and  civiliza- 
tion. Buddhism  is  making  a  frantic  effort  at 
revival;  it  is  adopting  Christian  methods  and 
Christian  forms ;  but  all  in  vain.  It  is  unsound 
at  the  heart.  It  is  being  deserted  by  the  men 
and  women  of  education,  and  derided  by  many 
of  the  "  intellectuals."  Its  ultimate  failure  is 
certain.  However,  one  should  not  underrate 
its  present  influence  upon  the  millions  in  Japan 
who  are  still  under  its  insidious  spell. 

The  state  religion  of  Japan  is  Shintoism. 
Official  reports  classify  only  fourteen  million 
Japanese  as  Shintoists;  however,  its  influence 
is  absolutely  universal.  It  constitutes  at  the 
same  time  the  very  strength  and  the  weakness 
of  the  Empire.     The  worship  of  ancestors, 


98      GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

reaching  its  climax  in  the  worship  of  the  Em- 
peror, or  more  exactly  in  the  worship  of  the 
spirit  of  the  emperors,  does  give  a  unity  to  the 
nation,  and  a  loyalty  to  the  Imperial  House, 
which  are  almost  without  a  parallel  in  history. 
However,  emperor  worship,  in  any  form,  is 
degrading,  and  as  intelligence  increases,  be- 
comes the  occasion  of  reaction  and  revolution. 
Real  enlightenment  and  emperor  worship  are 
absolutely  incompatible. 

The  present  problem  before  the  government 
of  Japan  is  along  this  very  line.  The  Consti- 
tution vouchsafes  to  all  citizens  religious  lib- 
erty; how  then  can  the  government  require  its 
officials,  and  even  the  children  in  its  schools,  to 
bow  before  the  picture  of  the  Emperor  and  to 
worship  at  Shinto  shrines?  The  solution  at- 
tempted is  clever  but  ineffectual;  the  govern- 
ment declares  that  "  all  ceremonial  observances 
which  are  officially  obligatory  shall  not  be  re- 
garded as  religious  but  as  patriotic." 

The  government  does  not  deny,  as  is  often 
asserted,  that  Shintoism  is  a  religion.  It  re- 
gards it  as  the  real  religion  of  the  nation ;  but 
it  declares  that  such  forms  of  Shinto  worship 
as  the  government  requires  shall  not  be  consid- 
ered to  be  religious  acts.  This,  however,  is  but 
an  abstraction  and  a  fiction.  A  ceremony 
which  at  one  time  and  for  one  person  is  an  act 
of  worship,  cannot  be,  in  reality,  a  mere  civil 


JAPAN  99 

ceremony  at  another  time  or  for  another  person, 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  great  mass  of  the 
Japanese  people  do  accept  emperor  worship  as 
a  religious  ceremony,  and  the  very  essence  and 
crown  of  all  their  religious  system. 

The  great  peril  to  the  nation,  from  both 
Buddhism  and  Shintoism,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
neither  one  gives  any  true  basis  or  adequate 
sanction  for  morality.  If  Buddhism  does  not 
directly  foster  immorality,  it  at  least  sanctions 
officially  the  worst  forms  of  social  impurity. 

Intemperance  and  immorality  are  at  present 
sapping  the  vitality  of  the  Japanese  people. 
While  these,  rather  than  the  religions  of  Japan, 
form  the  real  barrier  to  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, they  likewise  constitute  the  great  ap- 
peal to  the  Christian  church.  All  who  love 
Japan  should  yearn  to  see  her  social  and  indus- 
trial life  cleansed  and  purified  and  permeated 
by  the  power  of  the  living  Christ. 

It  is  true  that  Christianity  has  obtained  a 
firm  foothold  among  the  Japanese  people.  It 
has  been  the  chief  factor  in  introducing  most 
that  is  best  in  the  life  of  modern  Japan.  How- 
ever, the  obstacles  to  its  progress  have  been 
very  great,  the  growth  of  the  Church  has  been 
slow,  and  the  task  of  evangelizing  the  country 
has  only  been  begun. 

Work  was  undertaken  as  soon  as  the  land 
was  opened  to  Western  nations.     Among  the 


100    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

first  great  leaders  should  be  mentioned  such 
men  as  Liggins  and  Williams  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  Hepburn  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
Verbeck,  Brown  aod  Simmons  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  who  reached  the  field  in 
1859.  The  detestation  with  which  Christian- 
ity was  then  regarded  is  suggested  by  the  edicts 
which  are  commonly  reported  to  present  visi- 
tors in  Japan,  one  of  which,  for  example,  ran 
as  follows:  "So  long  as  the  sun  warms  the 
earth,  let  no  Christian  be  so  bold  as  to  come  to 
Japan,  and  let  all  know  that  if  the  King  of 
Spain,  or  the  Christians'  God,  or  the  great  God 
of  all,  violate  this  command,  he  shall  pay  for 
it  with  his  head." 

The  work  of  evangelization,  however,  was 
pressed  with  vigour.  Other  societies  became 
interested;  large  numbers  of  reinforcements 
were  sent  out,  until  to-day  there  are  nearly 
thirteen  hundred  foreign  missionaries  on  the 
field. 

Opposition  gradually  decreased  until  at  pres- 
ent the  barrier  to  Christian  progress  is  found 
less  in  hostility  to  the  Gospel  than  in  an  almost 
universal  indifference  to  Christianity.  The 
educated  classes  are  largely  infidel  or  agnostic, 
and  the  masses  of  the  people  feel  little  concern 
in  real  religion.  Still,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles, 
vigorous  and  independent  churches  have  come 
into  being,  and  there  are  now  in  Japan  some 


JAPAN  101 

one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  thousand  Prot- 
estant communicants,  organized  into  one  thou- 
sand, four  hundred  and  ten  churches,  three 
hundred  of  which  are  self-supporting. 

However,  the  influence  of  Christianity  is 
quite  inadequately  represented  by  such  figures. 
Many  Japanese  who  are  actual  adherents  to 
the  faith  are  connected  with  no  organized 
church,  thousands  of  others  are  carefully  read- 
ing and  studying  the  Bible.  Christian  phrases, 
and  customs,  and  ideals  are  rapidly  pervading 
every  sphere  of  thought  and  life,  whether  so- 
cial, industrial,  educational,  literary  or  political. 
There  has  been,  during  the  past  eight  years, 
an  increase  of  seventeen  per  cent,  in  the  num- 
ber of  Protestant  ministers  and  eighty-five  per 
cent,  in  the  Protestant  Church  enrollment. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church  reports  seventy- 
six  thousand,  and  the  Greek  Catholic  thirty-six 
thousand  adherents. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
less  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  popu- 
lation of  Japan  is  included  within  the  Christian 
community.  Furthermore,  if  we  accept  the 
modern  basis  of  calculation,  namely,  that  a 
mission  field  is  not  "  occupied  "  unless  there  is 
at  least  one  missionary  to  every  fifty  thousand 
of  the  population,  then  Japan,  from  the  view- 
point of  modern  Christian  missions,  is  still  one 
of  the  great  unoccupied  fields  of  the  world. 


102    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

The  missionary  methods  employed  in  Japan 
are  similar  to  those  found  in  other  mission 
fields.  However,  most  travellers  find  that  the 
evidences  of  missionary  effort  are  less  con- 
spicuous than  in  some  lands ;  but  when  one  is 
guided  by  resident  workers,  and  is  shown  the 
real  facts,  he  is  certain  to  be  surprised  at  the 
vigour  and  the  extent  of  the  Christian  enter- 
prise. 

One  misses  the  medical  missionary  work, 
and  the  Christian  hospitals,  that  elsewhere 
form  so  prominent  a  feature  of  missionary 
service.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  certain  new  forms  of  work,  such  as  the 
enterprise  of  "  Newspaper  Evangelism,"  which 
has  attained  marked  success. 

A  day  was  spent  with  the  leader  in  this  form 
of  activity,  Dr.  Albertus  Pieters,  at  Fukuoka, 
on  the  southern  island  of  Kyushu,  and  we  were 
deeply  impressed  with  the  results  which  are  be- 
ing secured  by  Christian  messages  printed  in 
secular  papers.  An  insertion  at  advertising 
rates  is  expensive;  but  tens  of  thousands  of 
readers,  who  are  indifferent  to  Christianity, 
and  who  would  never  attend  a  place  of  preach- 
ing, read  the  Gospel  story ;  and  every  insertion 
results  in  a  number  of  inquiries  which  are  care- 
fully preserved  and  used  as  means  of  securing 
personal  correspondence  and  interviews.  This 
method  has  been  given  the  endorsement  of  the 


JAPAN  103 

Federated   Missions   of   Japan   and   is  being 
adopted  in  other  parts  of  the  Empire. 

Then,  too,  as  we  sailed  through  the  Inland 
Sea,  and  later  as  we  rode  along  its  shores,  we 
were  reminded  of  the  romantic  story  of  the 
"Fukuin  Maru"  ("The  Gospel  Ship"), 
which  moves  about  among  those  picturesque 
islands  and  has  accomplished  a  work  of  such 
surprising  proportions.  Something  of  that  ro- 
mance was  learned  from  my  friend,  F.  W. 
Steadman,  who  for  a  time  conducted  the  work, 
and  from  another  personal  interview  with  the 
present  gallant  young  commander  of  the  ship, 
the  Reverend  James  F.  Laughton;  more  of  it 
still  is  written  in  the  life  of  "  Captain  Bickel 
of  the  Inland  Sea." 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  note  the  superb 
work  of  Christian  education  which  is  being 
done  in  Japan.  One  feature  of  the  work  is 
the  prominent  place  in  the  curriculum  given  to 
the  Bible  and  to  religious  teaching  in  many  of 
the  institutions.  Another  feature  is  the  large 
number  of  Japanese  leaders  who  have  shown 
themselves  able  and  qualified  to  assume  great 
responsibilities  in  the  conduct  and  extension  of 
this  work. 

Then,  too,  as  Japan  ultimately  must  be  evan- 
gelized by  Japanese,  it  was  a  great  delight  to 
learn  of  the  wide  influence  being  exerted  by 


104    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

such  evangelists  as  Paul  Kanamori  and  S.  Ki- 
mura,  who  are  bringing  the  Gospel  message  to 
tens  of  thousands  of  their  fellow-countrymen. 
It  has  been  a  great  privilege  to  become  person- 
ally and  intimately  acquainted  with  these 
workers,  and  to  learn  from  them  that  at  no  pre- 
vious time  has  it  been  so  easy  for  them  to  gain 
a  hearing  or  to  secure  decisions  for  Christ. 
Of  great  importance,  too,  is  the  Bible-teaching 
work  of  such  leaders  as  C.  Kajiwara,  of  Sen- 
dai,  and  K.  Uchimura,  of  Tokyo. 

At  present  one  of  the  most  interesting  prob- 
lems in  the  evangelization  of  Japan  concerns 
the  relations  between  the  denominational 
churches,  and  the  relations  of  these  churches  to 
the  various  foreign  missions. 

Union  and  cooperation  have  already  pro- 
gressed much  further  in  Japan  than  in  China. 
The  country  is  not  so  vast,  the  numbers  of 
Christians  and  missionaries  are  not  so  great. 
A  much  stronger  native  leadership,  especially 
in  educational  lines,  has  been  developed.  How- 
ever, the  next  step  proposed  to  secure  more 
effective  cooperation  is  along  the  line  recently 
taken  in  China,  namely,  the  formation  of  a 
National  Christian  Council. 

For  many  years  there  has  existed  in  Japan  a 
Federation  of  Churches,  and  also  a  Federation 
of    Missions,    like    the    Federal    Council    of 


JAPAN  105 

Churches  and  the  Federal  Council  of  Missions 
in  Korea;  but  there  has  been  no  organization 
uniting  the  churches  and  the  missions.  The 
Federation  of  Churches  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  very  active,  but  the  Federation  of  Mis- 
sions has  been  most  efficient.  The  annual 
Conference  of  this  Federation,  held  at  Karu- 
izawa  in  August,  was  an  occasion  of  instruc- 
tion and  inspiration  to  all  who  attended  its 
sessions,  and  it  revealed  how  much  this  organi- 
zation has  been  accomplishing  for  the  unifica- 
tion and  strengthening  of  the  missionary  cause 
in  Japan. 

However,  the  work  of  the  missionaries  must 
be  brought  into  closer  harmony  and  coopera- 
tion with  the  work  of  the  indigenous  Japanese 
Church.  With  this  end  in  view,  a  National 
Christian  Conference  was  held  at  Tokyo,  May 
18-24,  1922.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the 
churches  and  missions  were  represented.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  formulate  a  plan 
for  a  National  Christian  Council.  This  plan 
was  acted  upon  favourably  by  the  Federation 
of  Churches,  and  when  presented  to  the  Feder- 
ation of  Christian  Missions  at  Karuizawa,  in 
August,  was  referred  for  favourable  action  to 
the  individual  constituent  missions. 

A  few  extracts  from  the  proposed  constitu- 
tion of  this  National  Council  will  give  some 
indication  of  its  nature  and  purpose: 


106    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

Article  I.  The  name  of  this  organization  shall 
be  The  National  Christian  Council  of  Japan. 

Article  II.  The  Council  shall  consist  of  the 
recognized  evangelical  bodies. 

Article  III.  The  purpose  of  the  Council  shall 
be: 

i.  To  express  and  foster  the  spirit  of  fellow- 
ship and  unity  of  the  Christian  Church  in  Japan 
and  to  develop  a  deeper  realization  of  its  oneness 
with  the  Church  throughout  the  world. 

2.  To  be  a  medium  through  which  the  Church 
may  speak  in  a  representative  capacity  on  matters 
affecting  the  entire  Christian  movement  in  Japan, 
such  as  general  social,  moral  and  religious  ques- 
tions. 

3.  To  represent  the  Christian  Church  in  Ja- 
pan in  communicating  effectively  with  bodies 
similar  to  this  Council  in  other  countries  and  to 
express  its  voice  and  make  its  contribution  in  the 
International  Missionary  Council  and  in  other 
international  relations. 

4.  To  take  counsel,  make  surveys,  plan  for  co- 
operative work  and  to  take  suitable  steps  for 
carrying  on  such  work,  and  to  act  in  behalf  of 
the  cooperating  bodies  in  all  matters  of  common 
interest  when  the  Council  is  satisfied  that  the  ac- 
tion taken  will  be  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  cooperating  bodies. 

5.  To  provide  for  the  holding  of  Christian 
Conferences  at  suitable  times  on  matters  of  vital 
importance  to  the  Christian  movement  in  Japan. 

6.  In  all  the  above-mentioned  functions,  the 
Council  is  understood  as  having  no  authority  to 
deal  with  questions  of  doctrine  or  ecclesiastical 


JAPAN  107 

polity,  neither  shall  its  functions  be  interpreted  as 
being  in  any  way  legislative  or  mandatory. 

« 

It  is  further  proposed  that  this  Council  shall 
be  composed  of  one  hundred  members.  Of 
this  number  eighty-five  (fifty-one  Japanese  and 
thirty- four  missionaries)  shall  be  chosen  by  the 
cooperating  Christian  bodies,  and  the  remain- 
ing fifteen  members  shall  be  coopted  by  the 
eighty-five  elected  members. 

It  is  therefore  evident  that,  as  in  the  new 
National  Christian  Council  of  China,  the  ma- 
jority of  members  are  to  be  representatives  of 
the  native  churches.  However,  it  is  also  evi- 
dent that  this  Council  is  to  be  a  more  truly  rep- 
resentative and  authoritative  body  than  that  of 
China,  as  its  members  are  to  be  elected  by  the 
various  missions  and  other  organizations  to 
which  these  members  belong.  It  would  seem 
that  such  a  Council  would  make  for  the  unity 
and  efficiency  of  the  whole  Christian  movement 
in  Japan  and  thus  aid  greatly  in  supplying  to 
the  nation  its  supreme  needs,  namely,  the  pre- 
cepts and  the  power  of  the  living  Christ. 


HOMEWARD  BOUND 

AS  weeks  and  months  drifted  by,  the 
yearning  for  home,  and  the  sense  of 
distant  separation,  became  too  intense 
and  insistent  to  be  dispelled  long,  even  by  the 
pressure  of  duties  or  the  attractions  of  new 
audiences  or  the  fellowship  of  fascinating 
friends;  and  when,  for  the  fourth  and  last 
time,  Tokyo  had  been  reached,  even  the  touch- 
ing tributes  of  generous  Japanese  and  the  real 
delight  of  their  farewell  "  Princeton  dinner," 
were  less  thrilling  than  the  sight  of  the  great 
American  ship  chafing  at  her  moorings  by  the 
Yokohama  pier.  However,  when  farewells 
had  been  said,  when  one  stood  alone  on  deck 
and  looked  down  at  the  upturned  faces  of  loved 
ones  who  had  made  the  Orient  precious,  when 
the  engines  started  and  our  paper  serpentines 
snapped,  and  the  space  of  separating  water 
widened,  there  was  something  in  the  eyes  that 
blurred  the  scene,  and  something  in  the  heart 
that  in  other  circumstances  would  have  been 
called  regret.  Then,  as  we  steamed  down  the 
bay  and  started  for  the  open  sea,  we  looked 
westward,  and  there,  above  the  summer  haze, 
apparently  floating  on  the  clouds,  was  the  pur- 
108 


FUJIYAMA 

More  correctly  called  Fuji-San  or  Fuji-no-Yama,  is  an  extinct 

volcano  12,365  feet  in  height,  and  is  the  pride  of  Japan 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  109 

pie  cone  of  Fujiyama.  The  shore  line  soon 
disappeared,  but  the  slopes  of  the  sacred  moun- 
tain stood  out  clear  in  the  sunset,  and  as  the 
eye  followed  the  diverging  lines  of  that  moun- 
tain-top downward  into  the  mists  they  seemed 
to  expand  until  they  enclosed  the  island,  the 
nation,  the  Orient.  Tnat  mountain  was  all  we 
could  see  of  Japan,  but  for  us  it  was  at  the 
time  all  of  Japan,  all  of  the  Far  East;  and  then 
it  sank  into  the  darkening  sky.  By  the  next 
morning  we  were  far  on  our  delightful  voyage 
across  the  Pacific,  surprised  to  find  so  many  ac- 
quaintances on  board,  and  glad  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  form  new  friendships.  We  were 
homeward  bound  and  our  faces  were  toward 
the  future. 

As  the  voyagers  exchanged  confidences  one 
of  the  first  questions  asked  was  as  to  what 
each  one  was  hringing  from  the  Orient. 

The  Wise  Men  from  the  East  are  pictured  as 
bearing  gifts;  and  most  men  to-day  come  from 
the  East  wiser,  and  poorer,  for  the  gifts  they 
bear.  These  gifts  somewhat  differ,  according 
to  the  taste,  the  character  and  the  former  finan- 
cial condition  of  the  bearer,  according  also  to 
the  sensitiveness  of  his  conscience  and  his  fear 
of  customs  officials,  according  also  to  the  num- 
ber of  women  in  his  party  or  the  influence  of 
the  charming  advisers  he  has  met  on  the  way. 


110    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

Yet,  after  all,  there  is  a  striking  similarity 
in  these  souvenirs,  as  gifts  from  the  Far  East 
are  easily  classified  and  their  origins  located; 
and  while  many  are  exquisitely  beautiful  there 
seems  to  be  "  no  new  thing  under  the  sun." 

Practically  every  place  in  the  Orient  has  its 
specialty,  its  meibutsu,  and  this  must  be  pur- 
chased by  each  tourist  as  a  gift  for  some  one 
at  home  or  as  a  proof  that  he  has  travelled 
abroad.  However,  according  to  popular  re- 
port, most  of  these  Oriental  purchases  are 
made  by  wives  and  daughters,  while  the  hus- 
bands and  fathers  decry  the  conspiracy  of  East- 
ern nations  in  the  matter  of  currency,  for  their 
"  dollars  "  and  "  yen  "  are  worth  only  half  a 
dollar  each;  and  consequently,  according  to 
these  men,  every  American  woman  imagines 
that  she  has  an  opportunity  of  buying  goods  at 
half  price;  the  consequence  in  the  amount  of 
the  purchases  can  best  be  stated  by  those  most 
concerned. 

Among  these  purchases  which  can  be  listed 
according  to  places,  if  not  prices,  are  the  carved 
ivory  and  jade  from  Canton,  the  silks  from 
Shanghai,  the  furs  and  beads  and  cloisonne 
and  red  lacquer,  and  gorgeous  "mandarin 
coats  "  from  Peking,  the  brocaded  silks  from 
Nanking,  and  from  Hangchow  the  umbrellas 
and  the  fans.  One  should  pause  to  remark 
that  in  the  Far  East  a  fan  is  an  article  of  real 


HOMEWAED  BOUND  111 

importance ;  there,  a  fan  is  carried  by  every  one 
from  the  Japanese  "  red-cap "  who  wrestles 
with  your  luggage,  to  the  imposing  Korean 
gentleman  who,  in  flowing  white  robes,  sits  as- 
tride his  donkey,  under  the  shadow  of  his 
spreading  umbrella.  In  the  Orient  it  is  almost 
as  necessary  to  carry  a  fan  as  it  is  to  "  save 
your  face." 

The  "  specialty  "  of  Korea  is  its  brass.  Re- 
cently more  tin  and  less  copper  is  being  used  in 
its  composition  than  in  former  days,  so  that  the 
older  pieces,  less  yellow  in  colour  and,  when 
sounded,  clearer  in  tone,  are  more  highly 
prized. 

Then,  too,  there  are  the  Korean  chests,  not 
to  be  carried  away  in  hand-bags,  but  to  be 
shipped  homeward,  resplendent  with  their  cor- 
ners, and  their  countless  hinges,  of  brass. 
Some  of  these  chests  are  valuable  heirlooms, 
from  the  homes  of  the  former  gentry  and 
nobles,  and  are  of  great  value  as  antiques ;  but 
most  are  of  modern  manufacture. 

Korean  fans,  of  bright  colours,  are  made  in 
many  parts  of  the  country  and  are  prized  by 
purchasers,  but  it  seems  that  those  of  most 
clever  workmanship  and  of  greatest  value  are 
produced  only  in  Chun-ju,  in  the  southwest. 

As  to  Japan,  if  its  scenery  is  the  delight  of 
tourists,  so,  too,  are  its  souvenirs.  While,  in 
all  the  great  shopping  centres,  articles  from 


112    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

almost  any  part  of  the  land  can  be  purchased, 
nevertheless  there  are  "  specialties  "  associated 
with  many  separate  places,  the  meibutsu  of  a 
particular  locality  being  confined  often  to  a 
very  limited  area. 

Nagasaki,  on  the  southwestern  Island  of 
Kyushu,  is  famous  for  its  beautiful  articles 
made  of  tortoise-shell. 

One  who  crosses  to  the  sacred  island,  beauti- 
ful Miyajima,  will  be  attracted  by  the  ingeni- 
ous articles  made  of  wood.  In  Nara,  memo- 
rable for  its  temples,  its  parks  and  its  sacred 
deer,  the  shops,  not  unnaturally,  are  filled  with 
little  souvenirs  made  of  deer-horn,  but  they 
also  offer  for  sale  beautiful  articles  of  lacquer. 

Kyoto  is  a  perfect  delight  and  bewilderment 
to  all  persons  who  love  to  make  purchases  of 
Japanese  goods,  as  its  shops  are  probably  the 
most  attractive  in  the  Empire.  Antiques  and 
modern  products  can  be  found  in  endless  pro- 
fusion. Some  of  the  establishments  are  quite 
imposing,  but  many  of  the  most  popular  are 
insignificant  in  appearance,  and  located  on  nar- 
row and  obscure  streets.  Some  of  the  articles 
most  commonly  sought,  and  which  can  be  seen 
in  the  process  of  manufacture  in  the  various 
places  where  they  are  purchased,  are  of 
"  damascene,"  of  cloisonne  and  of  various 
kinds  of  pottery;  then,  too,  there  are  the  em- 
broidered silks,  particularly,  exquisite  kimonos, 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  113 

some  of  which  are  of  ancient  and  rare  work- 
manship, while  many  are  of  modern  design 
and  made  specially  for  "  foreign  trade." 

In  the  beautiful  Hakone  district,  mosaic 
woodwork  is  the  "  specialty "  which  fills  a 
prominent  place  in  the  shops ;  but  the  real  spe- 
cialty of  Hakone  is  the  view  of  the  peerless 
Fujiyama,  of  its  majestic  summit  and  its  re- 
flection in  the  still  water  of  the  lake.  This 
cannot  be  purchased,  but  its  faint  reproduc- 
tions can  be  found  in  a  very  large  portion  of 
Japanese  pictures  and  other  works  of  art,  and 
the  memory  will  be  one  of  the  most  satisfying 
souvenirs  of  an  Oriental  tour. 

The  articles  sold  at  Nikko  are  tempting,  par- 
ticularly the  coloured  photographs  and  the  pro- 
ductions of  various  kinds  of  wood ;  so,  too,  at 
Sendai,  farther  north,  souvenirs  can  be  secured 
made  of  curious  coal-black  wood,  and  excellent 
samples  of  red  lacquer. 

Many  other  "  specialties "  might  be  men- 
tioned, such  as  articles  made  of  crystal,  of  cut- 
velvet,  of  bamboo,  of  paper  and  of  bronze ;  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  suggest  the  wild  pro- 
fusion of  purchases  paraded  in  the  conversa- 
tion of  homeward  bound  tourists;  but  vastly 
more  varied,  more  diverse,  more  confusing,  are 
the  impressions,  the  memories,  the  opinions, 
the  reactions,  which  are  bundled  together  in  the 
brains  of  these  travellers,  and  are  certain  to  be 


114    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

presented,  with  oracular  impressiveness  and 
wearisome  iteration,  to  innocent  and  indulgent 
relatives  and  friends  and  even  to  the  patient 
American  public. 

These  mental  "  specialties  "  inevitably  differ 
according  to  the  previous  prejudices,  igno- 
rance, occupation,  and  antipathies  of  the  indi- 
vidual traveller.  Some  of  them  are  antiques, 
but  not  of  great  value;  others  are  new  and 
original,  but  of  less  value  still.  Some  are  fab- 
rics of  the  imagination;  others  are  based  on  the 
infallible  information  gained  in  a  chance  con- 
versation with  an  illiterate  coolie.  Some  will 
be  kept  for  private  consumption ;  some  will  be 
paraded  before  admiring  friends  on  state  occa- 
sions ;  some  will  be  preserved  as  curios  by  their 
honoured  recipients;  some  will  form  even  ma- 
terial for  books. 

A  few  of  these  personal  impressions  are  here 
recorded  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  reader, 
who  may  classify  them  according  to  his  own 
best  judgment. 

First  of  all,  the  writer  brought  back  with 
him  a  confirmed  conviction  that  many  persons 
who  remain  at  home  are  better  informed  as  to 
the  Orient  than  are  some  who  have  caught 
casual  glimpses  of  the  Far  East;  and  the 
further  conviction  that  one  need  not  travel  to 
become  a  great  philosopher ;  in  fact,  Immanuel 


HOMEWAKD  BOUND  115 

Kant  is  said  to  have  never  journeyed  forty 
miles  from  Konigsberg;  it  was  even  disheart- 
ening to  read,  in  China,  the  words  of  Laotse: 
"  The  further  one  travels,  the  less  one  may 
know."  However,  as  to  Laotse,  the  writer 
has  no  sympathy  with  Taoism ;  and  as  to  Kant, 
he  may  not  have  travelled,  but  he  often  seemed 
to  arrive  at  conclusions  far  enough  from  the 
truth;  and  as  to  the  friends  at  home,  it  is  a 
satisfaction  to  believe  that  by  an  Oriental  tour 
you  may  have  approached  a  little  nearer  to 
their  level  of  intelligence,  and,  in  spite  of  stu- 
pidity and  a  poor  memory,  may  have  stored 
away  in  the  subconscious  mind  some  ideas 
which  may  emerge  in  future  hours  of  need. 

Moreover,  since  all  life  in  the  Far  East  lies 
hidden  behind  almost  impenetrable  walls,  if  one 
is  fortunate  enough  to  find  here  or  there  a 
gateway  through  which  he  gains  a  glimpse  of 
the  mysteries  which  lie  beyond,  it  may  be  his 
duty  to  tell  others  what  he  has  seen,  however 
imperfect  his  vision,  however  partial  his  views. 

A  second  conviction  brought  from  the  Orient 
was  this:  the  better  one  is  informed,  the  less 
likely  he  will  be  to  make  sweeping  statements, 
and  the  more  will  he  appreciate  the  peril  of 
passing  comprehensive  judgments  upon  any 
race  or  nation  or  group  of  i:  dividuals.  A  cer- 
tain traveller,  after  a  prolonged  residence  of 


116    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

fifteen  minutes  in  Asia,  arguing  from  the  ina- 
bility of  a  Japanese  "  rickshaw  "  coolie  to  un- 
derstand "  cockney  "  English,  characterized  all 
Orientals  as  "  brainless  imbeciles."  Even  a 
short  journey  enables  one  to  appreciate  the  re- 
mark: "All  generalizations  are  false,  including 
this  one." 

However,  even  with  this  in  mind,  one  gen- 
eral statement  must  be  allowed,  and  it  is  this: 
One  brings  back  from  his  journey  the  memory 
that  wherever  he  went  he  met  with  unfailing 
courtesy  and  consideration,  and  was  over- 
whelmed with  kindness.  These  were  shown 
by  all  persons,  without  a  single  exception,  from 
the  cabin  boys  on  the  steamers  and  the  em- 
ployees on  the  railroads,  to  the  government  of- 
ficials, and  to  the  personal  friends  whose  gen- 
erosity and  graciousness  made  every  day  an 
unbroken  delight.  "  Showing  tenderness  to 
strangers  from  far  countries  "  was  one  of  nine 
cardinal  directions  enjoined  upon  rulers  by 
Confucius.  It  was  a  joy  to  find  how  far,  in 
this  particular,  at  least,  Confucius  rules  the 
East. 

In  the  fourth  place,  one  brings  back  home  a 
heightened  respect  for  the  Oriental  races,  and  a 
truer  appreciation  of  their  many  admirable 
qualities.     He  realizes  that  "  comparisons  are 


HOMEWAED  BOUND  117 

odious,"  and  that  they  are  needless  and  are 
commonly  unfair.  He  has  reinforced  his  con- 
viction that  it  is  not  necessary  to  hate  Japan  in 
order  to  sympathize  with  Korea  or  to  appreci- 
ate China,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
general  conclusions  as  to  the  situation  in  the 
Far  East  will  not  be  clarified  by  attempting  to 
imagine  that  all  Japanese  are  charming  fairies 
or  thinly  disguised  angels. 

Then  again,  one  returns  with  a  larger  con- 
ception of  the  latent  power  of  the  nations  of 
the  East.  He  does  not  feel  called  upon  to  pro- 
claim a  "  yellow  peril  " ;  but  he  has  at  least  a 
faint  vision  of  populations  and  resources  which 
promise  to  become  prime  factors  in  the  for- 
tunes of  the  world.  This  is  most  notably  true 
of  China;  not  to  speak  of  her  potential  wealth, 
the  multitudes  of  her  people  are  beyond  com- 
prehension. Some  one  who  delights  in  mathe- 
matical calculations  has  affirmed  that  if  the 
population  of  China  should  pass  a  given  point, 
in  single  file,  the  procession  would  never  cease, 
for  before  the  present  generation  has  passed, 
other  generations  would  have  been  born  to  take 
its  place ;  so  we  can  conclude  that  "  there  is  no 
end  to  the  Chinese." 

Further,  one  returns  with  a  haunting  mem- 
ory of  the  poverty,  and  ignorance,  and  pain 


118    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

which  enslave  these  millions  of  the  East.  This 
is  peculiarly  evident  in  China,  where  multi- 
tudes ever  live  under  the  shadow  of  impending 
death  from  flood  or  famine.  Even  in  Japan, 
the  majority  of  the  people  are  hovering  near 
the  border-line  of  want.  The  houses  in  which 
Orientals  live  are  mere  huts  compared  with  the 
common  homes  of  America.  Ninety-nine  men 
out  of  every  hundred  in  the  East  could  carry 
on  their  backs,  excepting  their  huts  and  house- 
holds, all  that  they  possess  on  earth.  The 
building  of  Western  manufacturing  plants  has 
introduced  new  problems,  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men  and  women  and  little  boys 
and  girls  are  living  in  practical  and  bitter 
slavery. 

The  prevalence  of  disease  is  such  that  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  the  statements  of  reputable 
physicians  as  to  actual  existing  conditions. 
Ignorance  of  the  simplest  laws  of  hygiene 
leaves  the  masses  a  prey  to  continual  pestilence. 
Every  thirty-seven  seconds  of  every  minute, 
and  hour  and  day  and  year,  at  least  one  man  in 
China  dies  of  tuberculosis.  In  Korea  the  in- 
fant mortality  reaches  the  pitiful  ratio  of  fifty 
per  cent. 

There  are  more  lepers  in  China,  at  this  pres- 
ent hour,  than  there  are  Christians  in  all  the 
eighteen  provinces.  In  fact,  in  all  the  Orient, 
lepers  are  everywhere  to  be  seen,  jostling  in  the 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  119 

crowds,  riding  on  the  cars,  lying  in  loathsome 
helplessness  by  the  roads.  The  Christian  mis- 
sionaries have  begun  a  work  for  these  outcasts, 
and  under  their  influence  governments  are  do- 
ing something;  but  the  provision  is  absolutely 
inadequate.  Possibly  the  most  agonizing  sight 
of  the  Oriental  tour  was  that  of  the  despairing 
lepers  outside  the  admirable  but  overcrowded 
asylum  at  Kwangju  (Korea).  They  had 
crawled  for  miles  on  bleeding  and  festering 
feet  and  hands,  hoping  to  be  admitted  to  the 
"  heaven  on  earth,"  only  to  be  refused  admis- 
sion, because  every  inch  of  space  was  occupied. 
There  by  the  roadside  they  lay,  with  no  pro- 
tection from  the  heat  and  dust  of  summer  and 
no  shelter  from  the  coming  storms  and  snows 
of  winter,  matchless  pictures  of  human  misery, 
left  by  their  fellow-men  to  die  in  anguish,  with 
none  to  pity  or  relieve. 

However,  the  moral  leprosy  of  the  Far  East 
is  incomparably  more  terrible  than  any  physical 
disease.  Impurity,  intemperance,  dishonesty, 
cruelty,  gross  materialism,  selfishness  and  sen- 
suality, like  foul  ulcers,  are  eating  out  the 
strength  and  vitality  of  these  mighty  nations. 
Their  pitiful  moral  impotence  is  an  unanswer- 
able indictment  of  their  moribund  religions. 
They  are  familiar  with  the  noble  ethics  of 
Confucius,  but  what  power  can  make  these 
helpless  masses  either  desire  or  do  the  right? 


120    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

They  "  see  the  better  and  approve,"  but  they 
"  follow  the  worse."  Christ  is  the  only  hope 
for  the  Orient,  and  of  all  the  precious  memo- 
ries which  one  brings  from  the  Far  East,  none 
will  compare  with  those  of  the  lives  and  char- 
acters and  labours  and  achievements  of  the 
messengers  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Now,  as  to  these  missionaries,  so  much  has 
been  said,  so  well  said,  and  so  poorly  said,  that 
even  the  self-assurance  born  of  a  limited  stay 
in  the  Orient  hardly  emboldens  one  to  add  an- 
other word. 

However,  it  must  be  remembered  that  all 
previous  estimates  of  Christian  missionaries 
must  now  be  revised  or  reaffirmed.  All  are 
out  of  date.  They  were  made  yesterday,  or 
last  year,  or  a  decade  ago.  The  missionaries 
of  to-day  form  a  new  company,  and  must  be 
judged  on  their  own  merits.  In  fact,  no  more 
vivid  impression  is  brought  back  from  the  Far 
East  than  that  of  the  extreme  youth  of  the 
missionary  body.  To  patriarchs  who  have 
passed  the  "  dead  line  "  of  fifty,  these  workers 
seem  like  boys  and  girls.  Of  course  there  are 
among  them  veterans,  who  belong  to  an  older 
generation;  but  one  who  is  fond  of  statistics 
declared,  recently,  that  of  the  six  thousand  mis- 
sionaries in  China,  less  than  twenty  per  cent 
had  been  on  the  field  ten  years. 


HOMEWAED  BOUND  121 

Whatever  any  one  has  ever  affirmed  to  the 
contrary,  it  can  be  confidently  maintained  that 
the  older  missionaries  and  the  generations 
which  preceded  them  laid  the  foundations 
wisely  and  well,  and  no  higher  compliment  can 
be  paid  to  the  present  staff  of  workers  than  to 
say  that  they  are  worthy  successors  to  those 
whom  they  follow. 

Taken  all  in  all,  the  eight  thousand  mission- 
aries of  the  Far  East  form  the  most  intelligent, 
the  most  cheerful,  the  most  industrious,  the 
most  useful  group  of  similar  size  that  can  be 
found  in  any  quarter  of  the  earth. 

Their  hospitality  is  unbounded,  and  prover- 
bial; but  not  infrequently  abused.  It  forms 
the  basis  for  the  antiquated  criticism-  of  the 
"  luxury  and  extravagance  "  in  which  mission- 
aries live.  One  popular  American  writer, 
stricken  with  fever,  was  rescued  from  death  by 
a  missionary  family  who  nursed  him  back  to 
health  and,  at  great  sacrifice,  provided  certain 
nourishing  delicacies  prescribed  by  the  physi- 
cian. On  his  recovery,  the  ingrate  returned 
home  and  regaled  the  American  public  with 
published  accounts  of  the  self-indulgent  luxury 
of  missionary  homes. 

These  missionaries  form  a  brave  and  inde- 
pendent and  self-respecting  group  of  workers. 
They  deprecate  being  called  heroic,  and  hate 
being  regarded  with  pity.     Their  joys  and  rec- 


122    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAK  EAST 

ompenses  are  many,  but  their  sacrifices  and  sor- 
rows are  real  and  bitter.  A  single  Mission, 
this  very  year,  mourned  the  loss  of  three  little 
children  from  three  different  households  within 
almost  as  many  weeks.  Yet  these  crises  are 
met  with  Christian  courage.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  forget  the  impression  produced  by 
the  services  held  in  one  of  these  sorrowing 
homes.  It  was  a  June  day  of  rare  beauty. 
Great  clouds  were  drifting  across  the  blue 
heaven ;  the  air  was  quivering  with  the  song  of 
birds,  and  the  breeze  which  stole  gently 
through  the  poplars  was  sweet  with  the  fra- 
grance of  flowers.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  dark 
shadow  which  so  plainly  rested  upon  that  com- 
pany of  sympathizing  friends,  the  simple  sol- 
emn service  seemed  to  be  in  harmony  with  the 
summer  scene  about  us  with  its  brightness  and 
its  beauty.  The  Scripture  message  was  one  of 
cheer  and  hope  and  comfort,  as  it  spoke  of  re- 
union in  the  presence  and  at  the  appearing  of 
Christ,  and  the  hymns  contained  notes  of  tri- 
umph. The  sense  of  bereavement  and  of  lone- 
liness did  make  the  homeland,  with  its  relatives 
and  friends  beyond  the  seas,  seem  very  far 
away,  but  the  real  Homeland,  with  its  glories 
and  its  joys,  seemed  strangely  near,  and  the 
company  of  Christian  workers,  met  to  express 
their  sympathy  and  love,  appeared  to  form  one 
closely  united  family  of  faith. 


HOMEWAED  BOUND  123 

These  missionaries  do  show  their  courage, 
not  only  in  bearing  such  bereavements  as  this, 
but  in  enduring  continual  separations  from 
loved  ones,  particularly  those  caused  by  the 
necessity  of  sending  children  to  America  or 
Europe  to  be  educated.  Happily  this  cause  of 
distress  is  being  lessened.  Schools  for  the 
children  of  missionaries  and  of  other  foreign 
residents  are  being  established  in  many  centres 
of  the  Far  East.  An  educator  who  has  de- 
voted his  life  to  the  development  of  one  of  the 
largest  of  these  schools  declares  that  he  was 
impelled  to  the  task  by  seeing  the  grief  of  a 
certain  missionary  who  was  parting  with  his 
children  for  a  period  of  seven  years.  Long 
after,  as  he  met  the  same  worker,  he  asked 
whether  the  separation  had  been  so  long: 
"  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  it  proved  to  be  four- 
teen years  before  I  saw  my  family  again ;  they 
were  grown  to  be  men  and  women.  I  really 
never  again  saw  my  children." 

To  avoid  such  experiences,  missionaries  are 
supporting  some  of  these  schools  out  of  their 
own  meagre  salaries.  The  Church  at  home 
could  make  no  wiser  investment  of  funds  than 
by  fostering,  at  its  expense,  all  these  necessary 
institutions,  not  merely  out  of  sympathy  for 
the  missionaries,  but  because  a  longer  residence 
upon  the  field,  on  the  part  of  the  children  of 
missionaries,  has  resulted  in  a  larger  propor- 


124    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

tion  of  these  children  returning,  after  their  col- 
lege courses  in  America,  to  devote  their  lives  to 
missionary  service;  and,  other  things  being 
equal,  those  who  in  early  years  have  become 
familiar  with  the  language  and  customs  of  Ori- 
ental peoples,  make  the  most  efficient  workers 
in  these  various  fields. 

However,  one  returns  from  the  East  with  an 
impression  that  missionaries  are  no  more  se- 
verely tested  by  separation  and  solitude  than  by 
enforced  society  and  compulsory  companion- 
ship. Not  only  are  persons  of  contrasting 
tastes  and  temperaments,  who  previously  were 
total  strangers,  compelled  to  live  together  for 
years  in  the  narrow  limits  of  a  contracted 
"  compound,"  but  families  of  very  different 
antecedents  and  customs  must  live  for  long 
periods  under  the  same  low  roof.  It  is  not 
strange  that  at  rare  intervals  frictions  arise; 
the  remarkable  thing  is  to  note  the  harmony 
and  affection  which  more  commonly  prevail. 
One  of  the  obvious  needs,  in  most  stations,  is 
that  of  more  and  better  homes  for  the  workers ; 
and  one  of  the  evident  requirements  of  mis- 
sionary candidates  is  that  they  should  be  rea- 
sonably free  from  egoism,  eccentricities  and 
fads. 

Another  impression  brought  back  from  the 
East  is  that  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  acquir- 


HOMEWAED  BOUND  125 

ing  the  use  of  Oriental  languages.  This  diffi- 
culty is  not  only  an  almost  insuperable  barrier 
to  the  usefulness  of  many  missionaries,  but  the 
continual  endeavour  to  attain  proficiency  forms 
a  severe,  if  often  unrecognized,  strain  upon 
their  nerves  and  a  menace  to  their  health. 
"  Language  schools "  have  been  established, 
most  wisely;  but  their  curricula  should  be  en- 
larged ;  and,  furthermore,  candidates  who  have 
no  ear  for  distinguishing  sounds,  and  no  apti- 
tude for  linguistic  study,  should  seriously 
question  whether  their  life-work  should  lie  in 
either  China,  Korea  or  Japan. 

Again,  one  could  not  fail  to  note  the  frail  or 
broken  health  of  large  numbers  of  missionary 
workers.  The  unfavourable  conditions  of  life, 
the  tax  of  overwork,  the  continual  drain  upon 
their  sympathies,  make  the  maintenance  of 
physical  vigour  a  matter  of  unusual  difficulty. 
Most  mission  boards  and  agencies  are  giving 
increasing  consideration  to  this  matter,  and 
very  wisely  are  providing  for  shorter  terms  of 
service  and  for  more  frequent  furloughs. 
However,  it  would  be  a  matter  of  wise  econ- 
omy if  heed  were  taken  to  the  urgent  request 
of  the  missionary  body  and  a  proper  sanita- 
rium, or  series  of  sanataria,  could  be  provided 
for  the  Far  East.  There  appears  to  be  abso- 
lutely no  place  in  the  Orient  where  a  worker, 
suffering  from  over-strain,  or  temporary  ail- 


126    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAE  EAST 

ment,  can  retire  for  rest  and  recuperation. 
Here  is  the  opportunity  for  some  benevolent 
person  to  make  an  invaluable  contribution  to 
the  missionary  cause. 

However,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  missionaries 
are  vigorous,  efficient,  devoted,  optimistic,  and 
their  influence  forms  the  most  hopeful  feature 
of  all  the  situations  and  developments  in  the 
Far  East. 

Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth 
than  to  imagine  that  missionaries,  and  large  re- 
inforcements of  missionaries,  are  no  longer 
needed  in  the  Orient.  It  is  true  that  churches 
have  been  established  in  China  and  Korea  and 
Japan,  but  in  no  one  of  these  lands  are  the 
churches  so  united,  or  so  strong,  as  adequately 
to  meet  the  problem  of  evangelizing  their  own 
peoples.  In  Eastern  lands  not  one  person  out 
of  a  hundred,  in  China  scarcely  one  in  a  thou- 
sand, is  a  Christian.  Only  a  small  fraction  of 
the  population  have  heard  of  Christ.  The 
work  of  the  missionaries  has  only  been  begun; 
but  it  has  been  begun  well,  and  it  merits  an 
immeasurably  increased  appreciation  and  sup- 
port. 

After  some  months  of  continual  association 
with  missionaries,  one  could  not  fail  to  return 
from  the  field  with  the  belief  that  the  time  has 
come  for  more  definite  and  aggressive  and  per- 


HOMEWAED  BOUND  127 

sonal  evangelistic  effort.  Particularly  was  this 
evident  in  China  and  Japan.  Other  forms  of 
service  are  admirable  and  essential,  whether 
medical,  or  industrial,  or  educational,  or  social ; 
and  all  of  these  may  be  used  toward  the  one 
supreme  end  of  bringing  individual  souls  into 
vital  relationship  to  Christ;  but  there  is  some- 
times a  danger  of  mistaking  the  means  for  the 
end.  The  reports  at  the  Shanghai  National 
Conference  laid  great  stress  upon  this  point; 
and  the  Conference  of  Federated  Missions,  at 
Karuizawa,  took  "  Evangelism  "  as  its  theme, 
and  made  ringing  declarations  along  this  line. 
The  feeling  seemed  to  be  unanimous  that  the 
definite  presentation  of  the  Gospel  message  to 
individuals  must  be  made  and  kept  more  pre- 
eminent in  all  the  forms  of  missionary  activity 
which  are  being  prosecuted  so  admirably  and 
with  such  notable  success. 

Finally,  the  supreme  conviction  which  one 
brings  back  from  the  Orient  is  that  of  the  unity 
of  the  human  race  and  the  sufficiency  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  The  differences  between  the 
peoples  of  China  and  Korea  and  Japan  and 
America  are  obvious  and  interesting,  but  their 
similarities  and  their  essential  oneness  are  far 
more  real  and  important.  All  have  the  same 
sorrows  and  joys,  and  hopes  and  fears,  and 
temptations  and  sins,  and  glorious  possibilities 


128    GATEWAYS  OF  THE  FAR  EAST 

and  spiritual  needs ;  and,  for  all,  there  is  hope 
and  relief  and  light  and  triumph  and  liberty 
and  peace  in  the  presence  and  the  transforming 
power  of  the  living  Christ.  For  making  Him 
known,  the  Orient  has  never  offered  more 
abundant  opportunities,  nor  have  the  obstacles 
ever  been  more  obvious  or  more  real ;  and  these 
obstacles  and  opportunities  constitute  the  most 
significant  walls  and  gateways  of  the  Far  East. 


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